When Nothing Leads to Something
by DCFanatic4life
Summary: What if Chris had met Stephanie before he entered the WWF, what if they met when he went to Vince's for that secret meeting he mentioned in his book? This is one way it could've gone...Chris/Steph...
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or real people in this story. The characters belong to WWE and the real people own themselves. There is also swearing and adult situations, so if you're underage, there is nothing to see here, go read one of my other, innocuous stories. I'm just playing around with them for a while and I'll put them all back nicely when I'm done.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so this is another new one from me, I know, I know, the girl is nuts about her Chris/Stephanie. And yes, yes, I am. Anyways, so this takes place before Chris entered the WWF. It's a take on the part of his autobiography where he went to Vince's for that secret meeting. It plays on the idea of what if he had met Stephanie there that day when he went to the secret meeting.

The rating is a T, but I may have to move it to M, I'm not sure yet. Anyways, please leave me a review and let me know what you think and if I should continue this or not. If not, I guess I'll remove it. :P But if you want to be brutal, go right ahead, if you want to be nice, be my guest. Just review, thanks! Enjoy! :)

* * *

There were just some things you didn't write about, some things that you didn't let the world know. Chris knew that his book was going to be read by millions so he knew what parts to keep close to his chest and what to reveal. He had been candid throughout the book, but there were parts that he left out. He still had to live his life and he didn't want to put his entire soul out there. So he had fibbed a little bit. What was that called when writers took liberties? Oh yes, creative license. Chris was just using his creative license.

Shane had met him at the door that day, the day that he had met with Vince McMahon for the first time. That was all true. He had met with Vince and his "inner circle." He had sat in on a production meeting and Vince had tried to make the hard sell to him. He appreciated the fervor at which Vince pursued him. He had never been so actively wanted before and it was a nice feeling to know that you were so talented that people were starting to take notice. He had been feeling lost in the crowd in WCW.

But that was all he told. He didn't tell of the other story.

He walked up to the door and it was nerve-wracking. He didn't even know what to expect on the other side. Just that he had a meeting with Vince McMahon, a secret meeting at that. He felt like a spy or a traitor, crossing over into enemy territory. For all intents and purposes he was kind of being a traitor. Still, this is what he wanted. He wanted to be in the WWF and that was his dream.

Shane had answered the door with a hand already extended, "Hey, welcome, Chris, I'm Shane."

"Hey," Chris said, shaking the man's hand. He looked to be the same age. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too, I've been watching your tapes, you're good, my dad likes you too, so don't be nervous."

He was grateful for the reassuring words, "Thanks, I think I needed to hear that."

"Yeah, I mean, my dad is really rolling out the red carpet for you," Shane told him as he closed the door behind Chris. "He doesn't usually do this for people, but with the whole ratings war thing going on, he's willing to pull out all the stops."

"I understand, even if it is a little daunting," Chris said.

He turned to look at Shane and saw a dart of brown flash through a room and he blinked a little bit, wondering who that was, but not putting much thought to it. If this house ended up being haunted, he was going to politely ask to leave. Shane showed him into another room where all of the head honchos from the company were sitting. If Chris were so inclined, he would've been pulling at the collar of his shirt right now. He was trying not to show his nervousness around such powerful men, but he probably looked like a little kid about to get a lecture from his father.

"Chris, nice to see you," Vince said with friendliness. Chris went up and shook his hand again as Vince introduced him to the other men at the table. Chris said his hellos to them all and then took a seat where Vince instructed him to sit.

He really wished that he had a glass of water right now. His mouth felt incredibly parched and he was finding it difficult to swallow. His tongue felt like sandpaper and he would give anything to have a glass of water right now. He almost excused himself to get one, but felt it would be rude of him to leave in the middle of this meeting. Whenever one of the men tried to get his input, he thought he could hear his voice scratching like a needle over a record. Man, this was just embarrassing now.

Somehow though, he found himself in the kitchen eating brownies with Vince. How he got there he wouldn't be able to tell you. This whole day just seemed like one big blur. He would never be able to retell it to anyone and that kind of sucked. He wanted to go straight back home and tell his friends and family about going to Vince McMahon's house. That would kind of defeat the purpose of it being a secret meeting, but who cared? He was in Vince McMahon's _house_; that was definitely worthy of spilling the beans.

"These are really good brownies," Chris said, and then he looked down and rolled his eyes.

"I agree," Vince said as he finished off his own brownie. Chris looked towards the plate and didn't know whether it would be polite of him to take another one. He didn't want to seem rude and just stuff his face, but these brownies were delicious. The person who made them had put white chocolate chips into them for an added chocolate taste and he really just wanted another one. He looked over to Vince, who was also eyeing the brownies. "What's one more brownie?" Vince finally said and Chris laughed and took another one.

"These are really awesome."

"I'm glad you think so," Vince said. "So do you think that we can agree on principle to you coming over to the WWF?"

"I'd really like that, Vince. Thank you for inviting me into your home as well," Chris said. "You didn't have to make such a hard sell to me."

Vince laughed, "Well, you know how it is with some guys."

"I'll be honest, it's been my dream to be in the WWF since I was a little kid," he said, feeling more at ease now with Vince. "This is the opportunity I've been working for, and for you to pursue me so aggressively, I never expected it."

"I think you'll work out for us just fine," Vince said, patting Chris on the shoulder.

"Dad, your office phone is ringing," a new, female voice said from just outside the room.

"Thank you, Stephanie," Vince said, standing up. "If you'll excuse me, Chris, I need to take this. Stay and have some more brownies, I shouldn't be too long, but if I am, feel free to go. I'll give you a call again when things with WCW start to get closer to the end."

"Okay, thanks, Vince," Chris said.

Vince walked out into the hallway and caught up with his daughter, "Stephanie, would you mind entertaining Chris for a little while? I've got a phone call that I have to take. He may leave soon so if you could just show him out."

Stephanie sighed, "Dad, I was going to go shopping."

"You can put that off to help me out here, Stephanie."

"Fine, okay," she shrugged as she walked defiantly into the kitchen. She saw the back of the guy's head. She hadn't watched WCW, she had no reason to, but she had heard all about Chris Irvine from her father. He had his eyes on the young man for a while now and when Chris had contacted JR, the wheels had been set in motion. She was happy for her father acquiring another WCW wrestler, but she was not happy having to be the one forced to interact with him. "So how do you like the brownies?"

"Huh?" Chris said, not even aware there was someone else in the room.

"I asked how you liked the brownies," Stephanie said. "Did you want a glass of milk with that?"

"Oh," Chris said, looking down at the brownie in his hand, "Sure."

"Okay," she said, grabbing a couple of glasses from the cupboard and grabbing the milk from the fridge and bringing them over to the table. She set the glasses down and poured a couple of glasses.

"Thanks," Chris said, looking up at her.

If she had the wherewithal to gasp, she would've. Those eyes were the lightest shade of blue she had ever encountered. He smiled at her and she almost melted on the spot. She had never felt such an instant attraction to someone she had just met. Luckily Stephanie wasn't really one to lose her bearings and didn't forget that she was currently pouring milk. She pulled away, glad that she hadn't let it overflow and she gulped as she sat down next to this man. Her eyes couldn't leave his. My God, did that color blue even exist in nature? Or were his eyes a complete anomaly?

"You're welcome," she said, giving him a soft smile. "So you uh…you like the brownies?"

"Yeah, they're really good."

"I made them," Stephanie told him.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sometimes I bake for fun, no reason at all, and my dad mentioned that he was having company and I figured I'd bake something and this is what came out. So you know, I'm really glad you're enjoying them."

"This is my third one," he laughed. "You'll have to give me the recipe. Then I can make them at home."

"Yeah, you could," she told him. "But it's just your basic brownie recipe with white chocolate mixed into it. So you know, nothing to it."

"Still, best brownies I've ever had."

"Yeah, thanks," she said, feeling her ears burn just a little bit. "So…since you're still in my house…or my parent's house, rather, I figure that you're going to sign with the company, or you're seriously thinking about it."

"Once my contract is up with WCW, I'm outta there," he told her. "I can't stand it there."

"Oh…well, good. Maybe…maybe we'll get to work together or something," she told him. "I'm just kind of starting myself."

"Oh, cool," he said, finally looking up and taking her in for the first time.

She looked like her father was the first thought that registered in his mind. The second thought was that she looked nothing like her father. She was beautiful, and he couldn't say that about Vince McMahon. There was something about her. She wasn't conventionally beautiful, she had a few imperfections that made her timeless in a way. She looked like she belonged on a poster for times gone by. He caught himself staring at her and he went back to his brownie, taking several big gulps of milk until he only had a few sips left.

"Stephanie, Chris," Vince said, "I've got to go to the office, damn emergencies, but Chris, it was very nice to meet you, and I'll be in touch."

"Thank you again, Vince."

He nodded, then looked towards his daughter, "Stephanie, your brother left a little while ago, so if you decide to go out, please be sure to remember to lock up, I don't want someone to get in here and steal our things."

"Yes, Dad," she said drolly as Vince nodded to them both and then left. She turned to Chris, "And then there were two."

He laughed, "I should probably go," he said, popping the last of his brownie into his mouth. He savored the bite and stood up to leave.

"Oh, do you have to go so soon?" she asked, biting her lip. "We haven't even gotten to know each other."

"You want to know me?"

"I meant, you know, you are going to be joining the company, and you're here, and no…no, no, you should go, I'm not going to keep you here, I mean, I have…I was…I'm supposed to meet someone at the mall. _Was_ supposed to meet someone at the mall, though now they probably think I hate them."

"You could always go now," he told her.

"Yeah, I could, I could," she said, grabbing the empty glasses on the table. She put them in the sink.

"You know, you're really nice."

"Thanks," she said, ducking her head. "You're nice too. I'm glad that you want to join the company. You'll be a great asset. My dad says he can even see a title run in your future. Oh, wait, I don't think I was supposed to tell you that."

"Don't worry about it, I'll keep it our little secret," he told her as they reached the door. He pulled out his rental keys from his pocket and then turned to her again. "Well, it was really nice to meet you, Stephanie."

"Yeah, you too, Chris," she told him.

She went to shake his hand and when he went to shake hers, his keys fell off of the finger they were hanging off of. They both leaned down to pick them up and bumped heads. They pulled back slightly, both rubbing their heads and then looked at each other. The tension that had been simmering between them was suddenly all pushed right between them.

"You're really beautiful," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said.

Before he could think, she had her lips on his and they were standing up and she had her arms wrapped around him. He couldn't protest because of the seal her mouth was making on his. She had pushed him against the wall, and he was shocked by her boldness. They were in her parent's house for God's sakes. He had to control himself. Still, she was so soft. He hadn't been with a girl in a really long time, and here was a girl, a beautiful girl who wanted him.

He had to be the one to show constraint though. He pulled away and said breathlessly, "Stephanie, what are you doing?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just had to kiss you, I don't know why."

"We just met."

"I know, but I just…I don't even know," she said, running a hand through her hair. She was still dangerously close to him though. "I don't even know what just came over me. I've never even done that before."

"It's okay, you've just…"

"Do you have a girlfriend? A wife? Oh God, please don't tell me you have a wife!" Stephanie said, suddenly realizing that she could've been kissing a married man. That thought made her sick to her stomach. Her father had cheated on her mother and it had taken a long time for her to forgive him and she didn't want to be the cause of someone else's marital problems.

"No, I'm not married and I don't have a girlfriend, it's just…we just met."

"Oh," she said. "I just…I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he told her. "Maybe…uh, maybe we can slow this down a little. I like you and…"

"God, I'm so embarrassed," she interrupted. She covered her face with her hands. "I really didn't mean for it to be like that. I just don't know what came over me and you're right, we barely know each other. I met you like twenty minutes ago and here I am, kissing you. God, I'm so lame."

That was it, he had to kiss her back. He didn't know why, but he had to kiss her right then and there. He reversed their positions and had her up against the wall and she was giving in again. What kind of pull did this woman have over him? He had never felt anything like it but he wanted his lips on hers from now and until forever. Was this some kind of strange spell? That's what he felt like. He felt like he was under some crazy spell that he couldn't break free from.

"Chris, Chris," she whispered against his lips and suddenly her hands were in his shirt.

Chris had not had many one night stands, but he knew how they started. This was exactly how they started. Harmless making out, and then things would escalate, and they would end up in a bed somewhere going at it like tomorrow was the apocalypse. But this wasn't just a random girl that he would never see or hear from again. This was his potential boss's daughter and someone that he might have to work with later on.

He pulled away again, "We shouldn't."

"We should," she told him.

"We shouldn't," he repeated. "I mean, we're probably going to have to see each other, and…"

"Don't you want to?" she said, and her hands were still moving up and down, pushing his shirt higher and higher. He closed his eyes at the touch, her nails raking on his skin ever so slightly causing the hairs on his skin to stand on end. "I think you want to."

"I want to," he said before he could really think of the answer. She smiled and pulled him towards her. "There's nobody here but us."

"Are you sure?"

"Am I sure that there's nobody in my house? Yes, I'm absolutely positive," she told him with a slight giggle. She grabbed his hand, letting his shirt fall back into place as she pulled him upstairs. If things were in a blur before, they were going at light speed right now. Was he about to have a one night stand (would it really be a one _day_ stand since it was not yet night?) with his future boss's daughter? Could he do this?

He was pulled into a bedroom, but if you asked him later what it looked like, he would've given you a dizzying description consisting of flashes rather than anything clear. The bed was soft, he could tell you that as he crawled on it as Stephanie scooted back so she was lying on top of it. She beckoned him with one finger and he came over her like a blanket, licking his lips as he descended on her again.

"We really shouldn't," she said as their clothes were shed. The last little resistance to this was flooding in from the corners of the room. "We really don't know each other, I mean, I don't even know where you live."

"Florida."

"Oh, and how old are you?"

"Twenty-seven, and yourself?" he asked with a sly, little smirk on his face.

"Twenty-two," she responded.

"You're twenty-two? You are way too straight-forward to be twenty-two," he told her as he kissed her. She giggled and unbuckled his belt and went straight for his pants.

"You have no idea."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Man, thank you all SO much for the reviews for this one! I was totally surprised, pleasantly, that you all loved it and I really hope you continue to read it and review it. I really like the concept and I know where it's going and I hope you'll enjoy the ride, because it will be a ride. Once again, there will be some adult situations, so if you're underage or totally immature, this might not be the story for you. Hope you enjoy and please, please leave a review, they make my day! :)

* * *

_She lay snuggled up in his arms. She was taking a quick cat nap, but he was wide awake. He didn't even know how she could sleep right now. Well, he knew that after their…activities, that he was a little exhausted as well, but sleeping right now__? Not an option. Not an option at all. He didn't even know when her family was going to get back. He didn't even know where her mother _was_, so maybe she was just out shopping or maybe she was taking a drive back home and she'd open the door and he'd embarrassingly run around the room trying to pick up his discarded clothes (he didn't even know where they were) and have to climb down the trellis or pretend like she was giving him a tour of the house._

_How could he possibly explain being here for two hours longer than was necessary? He could come up with some lame excuses, but would they even hold up, or would Vince McMahon know that Chris had just had sex with his daughter and fire him before he even had a chance to join the company officially? He kept envisioning this scenario playing out. If he fell asleep, if he dared to close his eyes, he might fall asleep and he could see Vince wandering upstairs, innocently looking for his daughter, and finding the scene of his naked daughter and a guy she just met laying in bed together._

_So no, he wasn't about to close his eyes. He didn't want to move though and disturb her because he didn't want to have to speak with her. He knew this was silly, because they had just had sex of all things, but he didn't know what to say to her anymore, or did he ever really know what to say to her? Hell, they had only know each other for two and a half hours, and now her naked form was pressed into his side and he had no clue what to say to her when she woke up. Twenty-two years old, he couldn't believe that as he had looked into her eyes. She was definitely bold, and he appreciated that, but it wasn't like he could date her or anything. Well…no, he was still with WCW and it wouldn't work, not at all._

_Was he obligated to take her out though? He _had_ had sex with her, didn't that obligate you to at least one meal__? He didn't even know the rules! He looked down at the top of her head, which was tucked neatly on his chest. Damn was she beautiful though; he hadn't been lying when he had told her those words, and her body was absolutely perfect, so smooth and pliant and curvaceous in all the right places. He had never been a fan of really, really thin women. He liked a little curve and she definitely had them in all the right places._

_Her eyes were something else too. He hadn't noticed earlier, downstairs, how they changed colors in the light, but when he had been on top of her, when he had been all around her, he kept noticing the subtle changes that occurred. It was like every time she opened her eyes to look up at him, or that time when she was looking _down_ at him, her eyes had changed colors on a whim or something like that. They were enchanting and he'd be damned if he could come up with any other time when he had seen someone's eyes play such tricks on him._

_She stirred and moaned a little as she began to wake up. She languidly stretched herself against him, her bare breasts caressing his skin and he was about to get aroused again by the touch of her body. Her feet slid up and down his leg a little bit, as if feeling them out and getting used to their shape. She gave a sleepy sigh as she snaked her body up so that her face was now buried into his neck._

"_Hey," Chris said, breaking the ice._

"_Hi," she responded, a sleep-muddled response if he had ever heard one. "How long was I asleep?"_

"_Only about a half an hour," he told her._

"_Did you get any sleep?"_

"_Uh, no, I don't usually sleep…after, you know."_

"_Oh, okay," she said as she stayed in that position. She feared moving because that would completely break the spell. As long as they were touching, that awkwardness that she _knew_ was going to settle over them would manifest itself._

"_So that was…good…"_

_She giggled, "That _was_ good."_

"_I've never actually, I mean, I've had the one-night stands thing before…not that I'm saying this is necessarily one of those…"_

"_I'm not asking for a commitment, Chris," Stephanie told him, "nor was I looking for an easy score or anything…I just, I don't know what really came over me down there. I was just looking at you, and you called me beautiful, and I guess I just kind of…went nuts, temporary insanity, maybe."_

"_Yeah, yeah, exactly," Chris said. "I hope…I hope you didn't think that I was taking advantage of you."_

"_No! God no," she said, lifting her head to look at him. He took note how striking she was right then. Her hair was falling carelessly around her face, and he could tell that she had had it curled earlier, but the curls had fallen, giving her this pretty waviness that seemed to frame her face, which was so unusually beautiful. She was pretty by any definition of the word, but it was the little things, the slight crookedness of her nose, her pointed chin, and the way her lips didn't seem to align just right that made him stop and stare._

"_Okay, good, I just wanted to make sure that was clear."_

"_It was, I mean, you know, it was very clear," she said, giving him a smile and even her smile had a little crookedness to it and damn was that endearing._

"_Yeah, so um…I should go, because, you know, your family."_

"_Oh God, yeah, that's right, my family," she said, and if she hadn't endeared himself to him yet, she certainly did with the face she made at him right then. It was a mixture of horror and absolute embarrassing glee._

"_Yeah."_

"_If they found you here, I'd be so embarrassed," she said. She pulled her sheet around her and grabbed her bra and panties from the floor before skillfully pulling them on under the covers. She got out of bed like that and he had to hand it to her for not having much embarrassment walking around half-naked in front of him. Some girls got really shy afterwards and when they were leaving, dressing like prudes even though he had seen them naked. She grabbed his wayward boxers and handed it to him, "Here."_

"_Thanks," he said, slipping them on and getting out of the bed in just the boxers. If she didn't have modesty, he wouldn't either. They went around and picked up their clothes and he had to say, she had the cutest underwear. She was wearing a red and white striped matching bra and panty set and it just added to her cuteness._

_Once they were dressed they headed downstairs and to the front door, where they stood for a moment. Stephanie impulsively leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, "Thanks for a nice afternoon."_

_He laughed and gave her a proper kiss, "I can say the same right back."_

"_Uh…here," she said, going over to a small table and opening a door where she grabbed a notepad and a pen. She scribbled something down on it and then folded it up as she handed it to him. "This is my phone number and my cell phone number, you can uh…you can call if you want, or not, I'm not saying there's an obligation to call, there isn't, just…in case."_

"_Thanks," he said, tucking it into his back pocket. "I guess…later, Stephanie."_

"_Bye, Chris, and um, call me Steph," she said with a parting smile as the door closed in front of him._

He tapped his fingers on the table as he stared at the paper in front of him. Her number was written out hastily but delicately on the piece of paper. He was contemplating whether or not he should use that number. The piece of paper itself had been sitting inside his wallet for about two weeks. He'd look at it everyday, but everyday he found that he couldn't call her. He didn't even know what he'd say to her if he did call her.

"Hey, this is Chris, remember, the guy you had sex with in your childhood bedroom in your parent's house. Yeah, we only knew each other for about twenty minutes before we had sex, but I just wanted to say hey."

Yeah, he didn't think that was going to work.

He folded up the piece of paper again and stuck it back in his wallet, waiting to be looked another day. It didn't matter anyways, he was going to go out with a couple of the guys in a few minutes anyways so it wouldn't have been much of a conversation. Besides, they weren't even anywhere near her so it wasn't like he could meet up with her right now. He was in Minnesota and she was probably in Boston going to college. He had found out where she went to college through an acquaintance of his who happened to know her. It wasn't like he was digging for information. The television backstage had been set to Raw one Monday night, scoping out the competition and somehow the conversation had flipped around to the McMahons.

He grabbed his things and left to catch up with Chavo, Scott, and Dean. They were waiting outside next to their rentals. He had driven to the show with Dean and Chavo and Scott had driven together so they made note of which bar they wanted to go to before they climbed into their respective cars and drove to a bar that Scott knew since he had lived in Minnesota for a while when he was with this one promotion up here. Chris was looking to have a few drinks then head back to his hotel and celebrate the fact that his contract was almost up and he'd be out of this joint.

A few drinks later and he saw a girl talking with Scott and he walked over and nodded at Scott, taking in the girl with him. She was a petite blonde who was dressed a little unsubtle; he guessed that was the nice way to put it. "Hey man, who's your friend?"

"Oh, this is Jessica, Jessica, this is Chris. I was just going to go talk to Dean," Scott said as he walked away, smirking to himself

"Hey," she said, tucking some hair behind her ear. "Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, you too," he said. He nodded his head towards the bar, "Do you want a drink or something?"

"A drink would be good," she told him as they made their way over to the bar.

"Uh, what do you want?"

"Whatever you're having is fine."

"I dig that," Chris said as got the attention of the bartender and pointed at the bottle he was holding and signaled that he wanted another one. "So how do you know Scott?"

"Oh, a friend of a friend really," she explained. "I was actually here with a couple of friends, they're over there in the booth, and I saw Scott and thought I'd come over and say hello and see how he was doing and then you came over and now I'm here."

"Nice and succinct," he told her.

"Well, that's me, I guess, nice and succinct," she joked. "So you're a wrestler too, right, Chris Jericho, that's what you go by."

"So you've watched wrestling?"

"I know some stuff," she said flirtatiously.

"I like a girl who knows her stuff."

"Then you are really going to like me," she winked at him as the bartender placed her beer in front of him. "So where exactly are you from?"

"Winnipeg, up in Canada, but I currently live down in Florida," he said. "So you like it up here in Minnesota? Don't you think it gets a little boring?"

"Wow, so the first thing you're going to do is insult my state, those are fighting words around here," she told him, trying to be menacing. "I might have to challenge you to a fight."

"I'd never hit a lady," he told her chivalrously.

"How noble of you," she said, taking a sip of her beer.

They ended up talking for the rest of the evening until her friends came up to her and told her that they were leaving and asking if she was going to stay. She certainly wanted to, but her friends were kind of plastered and she had only had the one drink hours ago so she still had all her mental facilities. She really enjoyed Chris's company though and wanted to stay.

"Hey, do you want my number?" she asked.

"Sure," he told her.

"Great," she said, grabbing a stray piece of paper from her purse and a pen and jotting it down before sliding it across the bar towards him. "Give me a call if you're ever in the area. We can get together or something."

"Awesome, I will definitely keep that in mind. I might just have to make a forced visit up here."

"Cool," she told him, patting him on the arm as she gave him a quick kiss to the cheek. He looked down at the number and studied for a moment. He really liked this girl and he could envision himself at least giving her a call. He opened his wallet and saw the piece of paper with Stephanie's number on it. He looked at it for a moment. There was nothing coming out of that relationship. He took it out and crumpled it up, throwing it in a garbage can he saw behind the bar.

He replaced it with another number he might not ever call.

**5 months later**

Chris was officially done with WCW and he had never felt better. The air felt cleaner, the sky felt brighter, everything felt better knowing that his dream was about to be achieved. As his plane touched down in New York City he finally felt like his real life was going to begin. This is what he had been working for all along and he was finally getting what he wanted. It had only taken him nine years to do it, but he was finally doing it.

When he saw that _Irvine_ written on the piece of paper signifying his ride he felt like he was finally arriving at the destination that he had wanted to be at for a long time. The ride wasn't too long since he had arrived early in the day and beat all the afternoon traffic. Before he could really think, he was at the WWF Headquarters. He got out and looked up at the building. He had never been here before as this was the meeting to actually get his contract signed. He had spoken extensively with Vince about the contract and now he was just here to sign it.

He walked inside and asked the women at the front desk where he might find Vince's office. She gave him the right floor and he headed on up. He wrung his hands together as he went up there, ready to sign with his new job and brainstorm just how he wanted to get introduced to the WWF audience. He had some ideas, but he had asked for a few months off to collect himself and get his bearings back so that he could come into the WWF at full steam. Vince had been kind enough to grant him the request.

Chris walked up to Vince's personal secretary and told her that he was here to meet with Vince and that he had an appointment. She sent him right in. After the pleasantries and everything, he signed his contract, and he shook hands with Vince McMahon. The deal was made, he was officially a part of the WWF. The meeting was brief, but Vince told him that he would like to meet with him tomorrow if at all possible to really discuss how to bring him in. He would even put him up in a hotel.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine, Vince."

"Great, I'll just have the limo at your service today and tomorrow then," Vince said. "That way if you want to go out or something, he's at your disposal."

"That's okay, I can use a cab."

"I insist."

"Well, okay then," Chris said. "Thanks, Vince."

"Not a problem. There's a hotel a couple blocks from here, nice one too. I'll put you up there, I'll have my secretary call right now, just wait a moment while she confirms it."

Chris waited and got the name of the place and his reservation before he left. He wasn't paying attention as the elevator went down and stopped on a floor. He got off randomly, looking down at the name of the hotel. He looked up and saw that he was on a floor and there were some people milling about. He went to turn to get back on the elevator but it was gone. He sighed as his obliviousness and pushed the button again. He turned around to look at the floor and caught sight of a familiar brunette walking into an office. He shook his head a little and walked quickly to catch her in an office, sitting at a desk.

"Stephanie?"

Stephanie turned at the voice, "Chris Irvine? Oh my…hey, what are you doing here? Oh wait, contract signing, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, just got through. I…kind of accidentally got off the elevator at the wrong floor and saw you here. I thought you were still in school."

"Graduated early," Stephanie shrugged. "My dad stuck me in accounting for now, my own office though. Lots of privacy here. But I'm actually going to start being on television soon. My dad has found a role for me."

"That's awesome," he said, not even realizing that he was leaning back so far that he had actually closed the door behind him. "So…how've you been?"

"I've been good, and you? I haven't heard from you, not that I was you know, planning on it, I just…never-mind I said anything. How are you?"

"I'm great, I mean, I just signed a contract here, I'm great."

"Cool," she said. "So…wow, this is kind of weird. I've never actually had a one-night stand before you…or after you, it hasn't been that long and I'm not a slut, but this is actually really, really awkward, I feel like I should give you a hug. I mean, I saw you naked!"

He started laughing and ducked his head, "A hug seems appropriate."

"Good, good, I'm not the only one who thinks so."

She stood up and went over to him, extending her arms a little as she reached out to hug him. He pulled her into his arms and gave her a bear hug. He gave great hugs, she noted. Chris could feel the curves of her body. They pulled away, but were still in a loose, friendly embrace. He looked down at her. Her hair wasn't curled today, but straight and it was a little bit shorter than it had been the last time he had seen it. She still had that nose and those lips and those eyes, dear God those eyes. She tilted her head, wondering what was going on in his mind.

She didn't have to wait long as his lips came crashing down on hers. She was surprised and gasped against his lips, causing her mouth to open and give him full access to the warm depths. He took full advantage as his tongue sought out hers. Her surprise was temporary though as she fumbled for the lock behind him and hastily closed it so nobody could come in and see them. He was pushing her forward, propelling her towards…something that would keep her upright because her knees were about to buckle.

She felt her back hit her bookcase and some binders clattered to the ground noisily and he pulled back for a second to make sure this was okay. Her eyes were closed as if she was trying to hold onto some dream and her breathing was erratic and quick. He looked down at the fallen items and wondered if he should pick them up or something. He was about to when her eyes flickered open and she was haphazardly groping for him, pulling him towards her so she could kiss him again. All thoughts of her not wanting this went out the window.

The next time he pulled away, he had to laugh at the sight of her, back against a bookcase with flushed cheeks and messy hair (the mess due to his fingers sliding through the silky, brown waves). He grabbed the bottom of her shirt and she actually lifted her arms to help him get it off and he pulled it straight off her body before dropping it on the floor. The vision of her, arms raise, just in her bra and her pants, her eyes closed, her face flushed with need, her mouth slightly open as if begging for more kisses and her breaths like whooshing breezes was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. He took a mental snapshot of it to save it for later.

"You wear the cutest underwear," Chris told her breathlessly as he looked down at her blue bra with the pink hearts on it. He recalled her candy-cane inspired underwear from the last time they had slept together.

The last time…

"Oh my God, what is it with us?" he asked abruptly.

"Huh?" she asked.

"This is the second time."

"I know," she laughed.

"I don't know what it is about you."

"We're just…we're just lusting after each other," she put it bluntly. "You don't have a girlfriend now, do you?"

He had not ever called Jessica back and so he shook his head, "No. You?"

"No," she said as she pulled off his shirt. She attacked his neck.

He couldn't explain it and neither could she so they just didn't try to. Whatever this was, it was just attraction, nothing more. He knew next to nothing about this girl and she knew the same of him. Yet, they were in the same position they were more than five months ago. Her pants were dropping towards the ground, and his soon followed. Soon after that, their bodies sunk to the floor. They just couldn't explain this thing between them.

So they didn't even try.


	3. Chapter 3

_He kept his mouth on hers as they climaxed to the finish. She moaned into his mouth, trying her hardest to bite back the sound, but it was too hard, he was just too good. She pulled away and laid her head back down on the ground, the floor unyielding and scratchy against her bare back. He got off of her and laid down on his stomach right next to her, his head laying on her arm as she bent it and ran her hands through his hair. His arm came around her waist and curled underneath her body. He turned his head to look at her. _

_Her head was turned towards him and she was still trying to catch her breath. She had the slightest sheen of exertion on her face, but it wasn't disgusting or even unkempt. She just looked like she had gone on a light jog or something. Her eyes were closed, not shut, but just fluttering closed, like they wanted to be open, but she wanted them to stay closed. Her hair was falling over her face just the smallest bit. He reached up and brushed it out of her face and a smile graced the corners of her lips._

"_This floor sucks," Chris said after a moment._

_Stephanie laughed, but didn't open her eyes. "Well, I don't think when they had it installed they thought anyone would be having sex on it."_

"_They should account for those kinds of things," he said and she could tell that he had a smile on his face. How she knew that, she didn't really know, but she could hear it in the way that he was speaking. She felt the weight of his head on her upper arm and his still rather short breaths on her shoulder._

"_Well, next time they're replaced I'll be sure to mention that to someone."_

"_That's all I ask."_

_She finally opened her eyes and there were those eyes. "So…uh…we're two for two."_

"_Yeah, and still, this whole set-up can still end with your father coming to find you," he said._

_She giggled and shook her head. "Nah, I locked the door. He'd have to knock. Which would end up with us hastily putting our clothes back on, but still, at least we'd have a moment and then you could hide under my desk."_

"_Wow, I'm surprised you had the bearings to lock the door, you're impressive, Steph," he said, remembering that she had told him to call her Steph. He didn't know what to say about this situation though. He wished that he had charming words, but he didn't have anything charming or witty to say._

"_So um…you signed a contract today__?"_

"_Yeah, I'm officially part of the company."_

"_Well then you should know I do this with all the new employees," she told him. "Kind of an initiation."_

_He laughed loud at that, a deep belly laugh that made his eyes light up. She couldn't help but laugh back at it, her grin just as wide. Her nose scrunched up in the cutest way as they lay on the floor of her office laughing. She loved the way his eyes seemed to smile when he laughed. They became so bright and lively and he looked so natural. She had watched some tapes of him that her father had insisted she watch and he was always so intense in them so to see him acting sweet and funny was something of a surprise._

"_Wow, so I've been initiated then?" he asked. "This is the hazing ritual?"_

"_Oh yeah," she told him. "This is weird."_

"_This _is_ weird," he responded. "I'm glad one of us just came out and said it."_

"_I just became aware that we're naked," she said, covering her face. "I'm at work, I'm in my office, and I'm naked. I never thought this would happen."_

"_Then your life is boring," he said. "So…inevitably we're going to have to decide what the hell this is between us."_

"_Yeah," she said. "I guess. I don't know, impulse I guess."_

"_Yeah, impulse," he said. "I mean…"_

"_I have no desire to date you," she told him._

"_Oh, good," he said. "I was afraid that…"_

"_No, I just…it's nothing against you personally, I just…I don't know, I've never really pictured myself dating an employee here. I just wanted to try and avoid dating someone who worked for the same company. There's such a conflict of interests, what with my father being the boss of the company. I just never know who I can trust, you know. Everyone's kind of gunning for you."_

"_Yeah, I can see that," he told her. "You want to feel like you're just like everyone else, but you know that you're different."_

"_That's exactly it," she nodded a little as she thought about it. "It's like if a guy comes up to me here, what's it for__? Is it because he likes _me_ or is it because he wants to get further in the company? It's hard to reconcile yourself when you think that people are only with you because of what you can do for them. You know, when I was in college, look at me, acting like that was such a long time ago, but sometimes I wouldn't even tell a guy my last name, like they'd automatically know who I was just from my name. I would just say that my dad owned his own business, nothing fancy, just owned his own business."_

"_You shouldn't hide that."_

"_I don't know, people see money, and it sucks, but that's what they see. I'm extremely thankful that I've never wanted for anything growing up, but money can be a burden too."_

"_I can imagine," he said._

"_If you…"_

"_You need not say anymore," he said, reaching forward to caress her cheek a little. "Don't be down about it, it's cool. We're going to be working together anyways and what if we went out and had a horrible, horrible date? We'd be stuck with that memory and what if your father wanted us to work together; it would be terribly awkward and everything and I'd rather not have that."_

"_Me neither," she agreed. "I suppose we just kind of get carried away with each other or something. Weird…sexual tension."_

"_That's a good way of putting it. I guess we just…have this weird attraction to each other, but you know, out of our systems and everything. Is it out of your system?"_

"_Yeah, I think it's out, let me check," she said, closing her eyes briefly, "Yeah, yeah, it's definitely passed. So…um, friends?"_

"_Sure, we're going to be working together, I'd hate to think that we wouldn't talk."_

"_No, we'll talk I'm sure," she said, leaning forward and kissing him gently. "We better get off the floor though, it's really starting to hurt my back."_

"_Back problems, at your age?"_

"_Old accident, I also have a trick knee."_

"_You're falling apart," he said, reaching up behind his head to grab his boxers. He got up and put them on and then extended his hand to Stephanie, who took his hand and let him pull her up. She looked around for her panties, which she found hanging off the side of her wastebasket. She plucked them off of the edge and slid them back on. When she turned around, Chris handed her, her bra. He was still impressed with her lack of modesty. She thanked him with a smile and put it back on as they gathered up their clothes._

"_So, I guess I'll see you around then, Chris."_

"_Yeah," he said, giving her a hug. "'Til we meet again, Steph."_

**4 months later**

"Are you sure you want me here?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"It's your big night, don't you want to be out with the guys or something?" Jessica asked as Chris tugged her along backstage.

"Nah, I want to be with my girlfriend," he told her, leaning down to kiss her briefly. "Besides, we can celebrate by ourselves later."

"You are such a horn-dog," she told him.

"I am not," he gasped. "I am a perfectly normal, red-blooded male, that's all. I wanted you to be here. It's a big night for me. I've been working for this for so long. This is my ultimate dream and I want to be able to share that with people that I care about."

"Your dad isn't back here."

"My dad is going to watch the show from out there. I don't need him distracting me before my match. He gets a bit…crazy when it comes to me wrestling. I wish my mom could've come, but that's okay, she's definitely going to watch me on television."

"That's cool. She'll be so proud of you."

"I'm hoping so," he said. Things were going to go so well for him tonight, he could feel it. He was going to meet with Vince McMahon right now to discuss his debut tonight and he already knew that he was going to interrupt The Rock of all people. It really didn't get bigger than that, and he was excited that they were going to start him out so high on the totem pole. When he had met with Vince at his house those many months ago, he had never expected that he would get this kind of treatment.

He wanted to share it with his family, and he was able to share that with his dad and stepmother though his mother couldn't possibly be here in Chicago tonight. He had brought along Jessica, his girlfriend of the last three and a half months. After the last incident with Stephanie he had decided to use the number he had in his wallet and had called Jessica up. After flying to Minnesota en route to Winnipeg, they had started to get closer and closer. He liked being with her and they were very much alike. Finding a girl who was as much into heavy metal as Chris was a true blessing indeed.

"So I'm going to go meet with Vince, are you going to be okay here?"

"Yeah, definitely, I'll be fine, I guess, maybe I'll just go find my seat or something."

"Cool, that sounds like a plan," he said, giving her another kiss.

"Good luck out there tonight, I know that you're going to be so great and I can't wait to see your debut, I bet everyone is going to love you."

"I hope so," he said, crossing his fingers and giving her another kiss. Her kisses were sweet and caring. He smiled as he watched her walk away, making sure she went in the right direction. They had just been hanging around for the better part of the afternoon but now that the show was starting to buzz more it was time for him to get down to business, but it was hard for him to stop thinking about Jessica.

She was exactly his type. He liked blonde girls, and they had so many of the same interests. They had so much fun together, and their bedroom activities were never lacking. He genuinely liked being with her and he could feel himself falling for her more and more as the days passed. The last few months with her by his side had been nothing short of great. She was just so sweet and funny, and she was so kind and considerate. She understood this business and she never wanted to interfere and trample on his dream. That meant a lot to him.

Chris knocked on Vince's door and his booming voice invited him in. He lit up when he saw his newest acquisition. "Chris, my boy, welcome, welcome."

"Hey, Vince, just wanted to come meet with you like you said."

"Yes, I wanted you to become better acquainted with the show tonight and how we run things around here. It's a much tighter ship than WCW I've heard, and I just don't want the transition to be difficult for you."

"Yeah, I completely understand."

"Good," Vince said. "You remember my daughter, Stephanie, right, I believe that you two met when we had the meeting at my house. You enjoyed her brownies."

That wasn't all he enjoyed, he thought to himself as he just then noticed that Stephanie had been sitting there the entire time. He smiled at her and noticed that her hair had gotten longer again. She was wearing a nice little sweater-set and a black skirt. It was very modest, but he had been watching the shows and her character was supposed to be very modest and sweet. Stephanie was not modest in the slightest though and he smirked at that.

"Yeah, I did…enjoy her brownies," he said.

Stephanie ducked her head and laughed a little before eyeing Chris again, "It's nice to see you again, Chris."

"Hey, Steph," he said, swallowing his words a little bit.

"Good, you two are familiar with each other," Vince said, not knowing how deep he was hitting with his words. "Stephanie's going to give you the run-down on how it works around here."

"Yeah, I'm going to give you the run-down," Stephanie said coyly.

"Great," Chris said.

"Come on then," she said, standing up and waving to her father, "We'll see you, Dad."

"Bye, and have a great debut, Chris."

"Thanks," he said as he followed Stephanie out of the office. "So hey you."

"Hey," she said as she glanced over at him. "You're looking good tonight, is that what you're wearing?"

"No, I have some other clothes, flashier, you know, because Chris Jericho is flashy."

"Oh, yeah, that's great, did you find your locker room okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did."

"Good, good, well, you'll be sharing for now. When you get to be a main-eventer you'll get your own locker room, but as it stands right now, you have to share, but you were probably used to that in WCW. Anyways, catering is for everyone. Everyone gets one VIP pass for whoever you want to bring. You can always ask for more but we do only have a certain number so you have to ask early about that. You might've already known about that, but whatever, um, we're prompt here, so you should come in around one usually, I know, seems early, but we do a lot of stuff."

"Okay."

"We usually have meetings around three to go over everything with the show. Scripts are given out and what not. You're great on the mic so we're probably not going to write for you so much as ask that you show us what you're going to say or just give us a run-down. We'll give you points to hit on in any given promo, work it in however you want, just make sure you work it in. You really do know all this stuff."

"Yeah, I do," he said.

"Oh, let me give you the schedule for tonight," she said. "That way you know exactly when you're supposed to appear. I'd meet with Dwayne to coordinate when your cue is going to be, I mean, it's at a specific time, but you might want to discuss where he's going to be at that moment in his own promo."

"Okay, sounds good."

She looked through her papers. "Damn it, the schedule is in my office, follow me, I'll come get it for you."

"So you get your own dressing room?"

"I dressed this way to work. It's just easier if I dress the way my character does. It doesn't break kayfabe when I'm walking to and from the arena. Besides, what's the point, right? Might as well make my father think that I dress like this normally."

"When we both know you don't."

"What are you implying?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said innocently. "I'm not saying anything."

"Sure," she said, eyeing him a little bit. "So how've you been?"

"I've been good, I'm really excited for tonight. I think the time away from the ring really did me good. I'm really ready to go out there and kick some ass. I feel like this is the best I've felt in years."

"Great, we want that kind of attitude," she said as he pushed the door open for her to her office. She walked over to the desk and started rooting through the papers sitting on top. He couldn't help but notice that her sweater was open and flashing him some cleavage right now. He tried to look away, but remembered that he had actually seen her naked so this was really staring at nothing he hadn't seen more of before. "Stop staring at my breasts, Chris."

He blushed, "How did you know?"

"I can feel your eyes boring into them," she said, looking up and giving him a mischievous smile.

"I'm innocent, I tell you!" he said as she finally found the paper she was looking for. She went over and handed it to him. "Thanks."

"Not a problem," she said as she went to stand next to him to look it over. "So yeah, just be ready and you should feel pretty set. Are there any other questions that you need to ask? I just don't think you'd have that many because you've done this before. I mean, yeah, from what I've heard, WCW is a bit of a mess, but it can't be too different, right?"

"Right, except around here I'm actually getting a push."

"That's so sad," she said, pretending to be sympathetic. "My dad is moving me up in the world, he wants more of my input into the stories."

"That's pretty cool, you'll be running the joint in no time flat," he complimented. She rolled her eyes and turned to look at him.

The room got very still for that moment. They had just been laughing and joking around and now suddenly it was all very quiet. Stephanie swallowed audibly, or at least she thought it was audible because it sure sounded loud in her ears. She bit her lip ever so slightly, a move he had noticed before, but hadn't yet made a permanent mark on his brain. He licked his lips, darting his tongue out of his mouth. She took that as a sign to lean forward and press her lips against his.

Before either of them knew it, she was in his arms, his hands up underneath her shirt and gripping her tightly. Her legs somehow came up and wrapped around his waist. He moved his hands down to cup her ass and she moaned against his mouth. Their lips had yet to part ways and they both kept tilting their heads to keep kissing the other. They somehow stumbled towards the couch that Stephanie had in there and they fell back onto it, Stephanie on her back looking up at Chris. Still, they hadn't broken their kiss but he was already lifting her shirt up.

He broke away to unbutton that stupid sweater and lift her shirt off. She didn't protest the contact as he pulled away the garment and threw it to the side. He was amazed against as he saw her bra, which was red with the words "Look but don't touch" written all over them. He was convinced that she had these things planned so she was wearing the cutest and funniest underwear possible. He leaned down and kissed her cleavage, completely forgetting about everything in the world.

"You're so damn intoxicating," Chris told her.

"Mmm," she said as he nipped at her neck. "Third time's a charm."

He smiled against her skin, licking at her a little bit, "I guess."

"Girlfriend now?"

Shit.

Chris pulled away and Stephanie looked up at him curiously. "Chris, what is it?"

"I do, shit, I do have a girlfriend," he said.

"Oh," she responded, quickly pushing him off her as she sat up and grabbed her shirt and sweater. "Wow, okay, this is very wrong then, very, very wrong. If I had known I wouldn't have kissed you. I apologize."

"It's okay, I got carried away too," he said. "It's both our faults if anything."

"Yeah, okay," she said, pulling her shirt back on. "Wow, thank God we ask that question or this could've been very, very awkward when we were through. Is she here tonight to see your big debut?"

"Yeah, she's already finding her seat," he said and it was weird that they could so casually discuss this when he was still in such close vicinity to her and while she was pulling her shirt back on.

"Cool, she'll enjoy that, so uh…that all you needed?"

"Yeah," he said, trying not to think about what he had almost done to Jessica. "Thanks, Steph, so this…whole sexual tension thing, definitely gone now."

"Definitely, _definitely_ gone now."


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I'm glad people are liking this story. It's one of my favorites and these two definitely are crazy in it, they have such a hard time away from each other. Hope you enjoy and reviews are awesome, so leave one, please. :)

* * *

"At some point, you know, I'm not going to come with you."

"But you're my security blanket," Chris said, hugging Jessica close to him and holding her tightly. "I don't want to go anywhere without you."

"Yeah, but haven't you been making friends here, and don't you already _have_ friends here?" she asked him playfully.

"Yeah, but I don't want to necessarily kiss any of those guys," he joked. "That's why I need you here for the moral support."

"You've been here for just over a month, and you make me come with you every Monday, when do you think that you're going to be weaned off of me."

"You need to just move to Florida so that I can be with you all the time," Chris said. "But no, you have to live in Minnesota. What's so great about Minnesota anyways? It's cold, it's way up north, there are no beaches, come on…that's lame."

"Again with the insulting my home state," she said, reaching up and grabbing him by the collar. "How many times do I have to tell you that those are fighting words?"

"Are you going to beat me up?"

"I'm thinking about it," she told him, trying to sound intimidated. She kind of bumped her chest against his like she wanted to go right now and he just laughed at her and tried to look tough. "I don't think that I'll come back next week."

"Oh come on, it can't be too boring," he pouted.

"It's not, but I do have a job!"

"You're freelance, you barely have a job, it's so flexible," he whined.

"Still, you love what you love, and I love what I love. So you're going to have to get used to being on your own every week."

"But how are we supposed to stay strong when we're apart. We've been together for four and a half months and that's hardly enough time to really get to know you," he told her. "If you would just come with me…hey, maybe you can be my assistant!"

"No," she answered immediately. "I'm not going to be your assistant. Haven't you ever heard of not mixing business and pleasure? If I were to become your assistant, you'd end up hating me, and I'd end up hating you."

"I hardly think that's true," he told her. "I think it'd be great. I'd pay you if you want."

"Oh, that's nice, make me feel like a hooker," she told him, rolling his eyes.

He gasped and pretended to act shocked. "A hooker! You think that if I paid you to do a job, a specific job that you would feel like a hooker? But it's not like you'd be assisting me by standing out on a street corner every night in whore clothes."

"Well, no, but I'd be sleeping with you and working with you, and the line would blur itself."

"Then you could refer to me as Mr. Irvine when you're on the job and Chris when we're not on the job."

"No, absolutely not," she said. "Look, I'm just going to go find my seat and get out there and you do your own thing. So it will feel like I'm not even here, okay? So next week, when I'm really not here, you won't feel so weird about it."

He sighed, "Fine, if you must."

"I must," she said, leaning up to kiss him. "Good luck tonight, I know that you'll knock everyone away."

"I've got a crappy match," he said. "It's just to further the storyline, so if I don't impress you as much as usual, that's my excuse."

"Uh huh, you just suck and you know it," she told him, making a funny face as he leaned down for another kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her off the ground a little so it was easier for them to kiss. She pulled away and smiled at him, "You're so damn cute, Chris Irvine."

"Well thank you, Miss Jessica," he said as he put her down. "Now get your cute butt out of here before I make you stay back here with me for the rest of the night and then I'll make you be my manager and you'll start your own wrestling career and it'll be all over for you."

"Shut up," she shoved him as she went to the curtain to get into the arena and go find her seat.

Chris smiled to himself as he turned around. Life was pretty damn good right now if he did say so himself. He was finally starting to settle into the WWF and he was figuring out all the nuances. Vince was right when he said they ran a tighter ship around here. The shows were so organized and well-put-together that he never really felt lost in the shuffle. There was always somewhere for him to be and something for him to do.

His personal life was going pretty well too. He and Jessica were still going strong and she made him really happy. He wasn't just trying to be funny when he had suggested her moving down to Florida. If she wanted to move in with him, he'd have little to no problem with that. He really liked being around her. She felt like the perfect woman for him, and he had never really felt that way before. Usually there were girls that he was with that he liked, but they found that they would run out of things to talk about because they just didn't have that much in common.

It was different with Jessica because they had so much in common. She was almost like the female version of himself, hell, if she was a wrestler, he really would think that she was the female version of himself. They just never ran out of things to talk about and it was so refreshing to be with someone like that. Plus she was just so damn sweet. When he was feeling down about something, she'd make him brownies or cupcakes, and she would just bring a smile to his face. They hadn't yet told each other that they loved each other, but he could feel it coming soon.

He walked down to his locker room, intending to get his ring tights on now so that he wasn't worrying about them later. He passed by Stephanie in the hallway and she looked up and smiled and nodded at him. He gave her a small wave and a smile as he passed her by. Neither one gave another glance as they went to their desired destinations. That had been pretty much their relationship since he entered the company.

It wasn't animosity or anything that was lingering between them. They just didn't have that much to say to one another. They would have short conversations every now and then, but it was usually filled with small talk and business talk. They were acquaintances, he wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, but they were able to talk every now and again. He just didn't really think he had anything to talk to her about and she must've felt likewise. He had introduced her to Jessica a couple of weeks ago and there had been no tension at all.

She must've just been one of those things that you can't explain. The reason for him sleeping with her twice was just one of life's little mysteries. Maybe there had just been some lust between them that they needed to get out. Or maybe they had both been having a drought and they just needed to fuck someone. It was just out of their system, he knew that now and they had both moved on, and it was fine with him.

Later that evening, he walked back from his match, getting a towel from someone and wiping his face off. He looked ahead of him and saw Stephanie again and she was talking with Jeff Hardy. She was laughing at something he was saying, and she had her head tilted a bit to the side as she nodded and continued to laugh. Jeff started laughing too and her eyes lit up at that. He stared at her for a moment, just watching her laugh and talk with Jeff.

After a minute or two, Jeff left to parts unknown and Stephanie turned her back to Chris to write something in a file on the desk in front of her. He walked over and as she stood up, he leaned in a little, "I thought you didn't date guys in the company."

Stephanie jumped a little bit and turned to look at Chris. "Geez, Chris, you scared the crap out of me."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"What's this about me dating?"

"I thought you didn't date guys in the company," he repeated.

"Who said I was dating anyone in the company?" she asked, confused as to why he would say something like that. She wondered if perhaps rumors were spreading about her dating one of the employees. She looked around, almost accusingly, to see if there was anyone who looked suspicious around her.

"Nobody, but you were just flirting with Jeff Hardy," he told her.

Her jaw dropped as she said, "You've got to be kidding me. You thought that I was flirting with him, you thought _that_ was flirting?"

"Well, what was it then?" he asked.

"Talking," she told him. "It was talking, kind of like what you and me are doing right now."

"Oh, so what does your flirting look like?"

"It usually involves me taking my clothes off and you complimenting my underwear," she replied quietly with a saucy wink to top off the statement. Chris rolled his eyes as he chuckled. Man, she really was quite bold. "You like that?"

"You're something else, Steph," he told her. "You're really something else."

"Yeah, I'm so something else that you thought I was flirting with Jeff Hardy of all people. I mean, let's be honest here, I think that I can do a little better than Jeff Hardy. I'm not really one to want a guy who puts stockings on his arms."

"Well, you never know who you're willing to break that whole code for," he pointed out.

"Yeah, if and when I do decide that dating a coworker is right for me, believe you me, it won't be for Jeff Hardy. I guess it would just have to be a guy that I would be willing to risk it for you know?"

"No, I don't know, what do you think risking it is?" he asked as they took a seat on a stray trunk. He didn't even realize they had been walking casually until they found themselves far from their starting point. He barely remembered sitting on the trunk, but there they were.

"Just someone that I know that I'm going to want, someone I know that I can trust. Love is so fickle, you know, it's always changing and people fall in and out of love on a whim. If I were to date a guy here, I guess he'd just have to be…permanent."

"Oh, I get what you're saying," he said. "And you see no potential?"

"No, I guess not, I haven't really looked," she confessed to him.

He looked over at her as she focused in on the file that she was reading over. He scooted a little bit closer to her and looked down at the sheet of paper. It was the current lineup for the Pay-Per-View that they were having with some scribbles on it commenting on what matches they were going to setup that evening. His shoulder ended up leaning against hers and somehow the touch was electric, but they both tried their best to ignore it and just chalked it up to the close proximity.

"Do you know where on the card my match is going to end up?" he asked, his head right next to hers now.

"No," she told him. "Haven't decided the order yet, but I would say that for you…third or fourth match."

"So what's going to happen with you and Andrew?" he asked. "Let me in on the scoop."

"As of right now, the wedding is going to happen and Paul Levesque is going to interrupt it and he's going to feud with my family for a little while and then we'll move on, annulment and all of that junk."

"Wow, sounds like you're going to be working it."

"Working what exactly?" she asked.

"I don't know, but it sounds like you're going to be all over the show, are you excited for that?" he asked.

"I don't know, it's a big storyline," she said. "I've never really talked to Paul before and I'm going to have to kiss him probably, and it's just going to be uncomfortable for a while, like it was with Andrew. I just hope that Paul doesn't end up thinking we're really married."

"Well, that might be hard. Do you have a boyfriend now or something?"

"I've been seeing a guy for a few weeks now," she answered. "It's nothing big, very casual since I've been out on the road for this entire time, but it's…something, at least, you know, a good meal every now and then."

"So you're just out for a good meal."

"If I were just out for a good meal, don't you think I would've made _you_ take me out for a good meal?"

"Hey, I gave you something better than some food."

"Oh, is that what you think?"

"It's what I know," he said cockily and she nudged against him as he stuck his tongue out at her. They looked at each other for a long moment. His eyes went down to her full lips which were stained with the slightest hint of lip gloss. He caught himself staring at them for a long moment. He looked back up into those blue-gray eyes of hers, the ones that had first caught his attention months and months ago.

"Why the interest in my love life, huh, Chris?" she wondered, breaking this tension that was starting to build between them. She tilted her head just the tiniest bit, but he noticed. He guessed she really did just talk with her head tilted.

"No reason."

"Are you jealous?" she asked jokingly, pursing her lips together as she widened her eyes at the question. "Because if you are…"

"Ha, ha, ha," he told her, "why would I be jealous? I've got a girlfriend, remember."

"Yeah and she seems nice," Stephanie said, getting off the trunk. "Well, until we meet again, Chris Irvine, stay cool."

Stephanie wandered off and she saw someone that she needed to talk to and jogged to keep up with them. It was one of the production guys, a young one, short brown hair and tall. Stephanie squeezed him on the arm as she talked to him, going over something that he couldn't hear because he was too far away. His smile faltered a little bit as his mind wandered. He found himself wondering what little message her underwear was telling today. Realizing what he was thinking about he shook his head and hopped off the trunk to find his intended destination.

"Chris!"

He turned and saw Jessica. "Oh, hey, Jess."

"'Oh, hey, Jess?' That's all I get, what, no, 'Hello, most beautiful girl in the entire world'? I've got to say, you need to work on your greetings."

"Sorry," he said. "I was just distracted for a second there."

"With what?" she asked.

"I don't really know," he lied. He had been thinking about Stephanie. She was such a nice person that he didn't know why they weren't friends. Maybe they should become friends or something. He might like that. She was definitely spunky and it might be nice to have someone to go to that he could rant to if Jessica insisted on not coming anymore. "It was nothing."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, come on, let's go back to the hotel."

"And have some fun?" Stephanie saw them again and waved at the two of them. He stared at her a little too long.

"Yeah, lots of fun."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I'm really glad you're all liking this and thanks for all the reviews, they're awesome. Hope you like the chapter and reviews are awesome, as always. :)

* * *

"So I guess we're going to start working together."

"That's right," Stephanie said. "It should be a good storyline. I don't think it's going to last that long though. I know that my father has it set only for a few weeks, maybe a couple months if he wants to extend it."

"How would he extend it though, I thought that we were eventually going to get it annulled."

"I think that he would just have me decide to stay with you, maybe he'd have me turn on him or something," Stephanie said. "I'm not entirely sure, I think it really depends on how the crowd responds to the storyline."

"Yeah," Paul said, "I can understand that."

"But it should be good nonetheless. I don't think that anyone is going to suspect what's going to happen."

"Why would they?" he asked. "You and I haven't really had any contact with each other thus far, and there's no way they would suspect that I was going to drug you and marry you, so I think the fans are going to be completely shocked."

"So do I, I think it'll be funny. I have to pretend like I'm in total and complete shock. I've been practicing looking horrified," Stephanie joked. "It's going to be weird getting to wear a wedding dress and everything. It'll all feel so real."

He laughed, "Yeah, I guess so, when are we going to film that scene anyways, with us in Vegas?"

"Well, we're going to be in Southern California a week before so that's when we're going to do it. We're just going to travel up to Vegas and do the scene so that they can edit it if they want, you know, so we're not rushed into it. I want it to come off perfect since this is my first really big storyline. I know I have the thing with Test, but it hasn't been _too_ much in the forefront, but since you're in the main-event, this is huge."

"I'm glad you think so."

"I know so."

"Hey, baby girl, I've been looking for you," Shane said, then glanced over at Paul. "Oh hey, Paul, what's up?"

"I was just discussing this storyline your sister and I are going to do. I'm looking forward to it," Paul told him. "I think it'll be good for both of us."

Shane narrowed his eyes the tiniest bit, trying to figure out what Paul meant about that comment. He was a little bit weary of the man in front of him. He had a bad reputation around here based on the people that he chose to associate himself with. He was starting to rise in the ranks and he knew that his sister was an easy target. She was young and fresh-faced, and she didn't know what she was getting into, not really. Thankfully Shane was here to help rectify that situation. If anyone was trying to get with his sister, well they'd have to have a word with him first.

"Me too," Stephanie said. "If you'll excuse me though, Paul, I'm going to visit with my brother."

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, patting her on the shoulder and walking away.

Stephanie looked at Shane questioningly, "What's with the face?"

"What's going on between you two?"

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me, right?" Stephanie scoffed. "Don't even tell me that you're going the big brother route _now_? Shane, come on, you know me, come on…"

"Yeah, I know, you, but I don't know, you're single right now, so you could very well be going out with this guy and--"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," she said, holding her hand up in front of his face. "I don't date guys in the company. It's a policy of mine. Unless some guy comes along here and sweeps me off my feet and genuinely cares about _me_, I'm not going to be dating anyone here. Paul and I were just discussing the upcoming storyline between us, that's it."

"I wasn't insinuating that you didn't know what you were doing," Shane said. "I know that you don't want to date anyone in the company and I think that's kind of smart of you. You're my kid sister, Steph, you have to understand that if I see some guy lurking around you, I'm going to be suspicious."

"Don't worry about me, I'm an adult now, and I can think like one too, you know," Stephanie told him, flipping her hair back. "Plus, I'm starting to sit in on the creative meetings so pretty soon I'm going to have more power than you," she said, poking Shane in the chest. "Then I'll be controlling your storylines and you'll just have to take it, so don't say anything that will haunt you in the future."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine, whatever, I just worry, sue me."

"Okay, how much do you think I can bilk out of you?" she wondered, tapping her chin. Just then, Chris walked by and she smiled. Shane looked over his shoulder and who she was smiling at, "Chris, one of the people I was looking for!"

"Me?" Chris asked, looking at Stephanie and stopping. "Oh, uh, hey, Shane."

"Hey, Chris," Shane said. Shane liked the guy. He seemed nice enough though they really hadn't talked to each other. They just didn't find their paths crossing all that much, but Chris was the consummate professional backstage.

"What did you need, Steph?" Chris asked.

"Oh, I had a schedule for you," she said, pulling a piece of paper from a file and handing it to him. "And I have something else for you, if I could just find it."

Shane's cell phone buzzed and he pulled it from the holder on his belt. "Damn it, it's Dad, I wonder what the hell he wants this time."

"I bet he wants to change what you were going to say on the show tonight," Stephanie said in a sing-song voice. Her father was constantly changing things like that. He wanted perfection, and though both Stephanie and Shane could sympathize with that, sometimes it went overboard and they were the ones caught in the maelstrom.

"So…schedule?" Chris said, getting Stephanie back to the task at hand.

"Oh yeah," she said, continuing to go through her files. "So…where's your girlfriend? Did she come with you tonight?"

"Nah, she abandoned me," he joked. "I'm flying solo this evening."

"Oh, I just assumed that she traveled with you all the time," Stephanie said. "You've been with her every week."

"I know, I guess I was just a little nervous coming to a new place," Chris shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I kind of saw her as a security blanket. As long as she was here, there was definitely someone that I knew."

"I get that," Stephanie said, still fingering through the stack of papers in her arms. "I'm really sorry this is taking so long, but it's basically the itinerary for the next Pay-Per-View and you need it so that you can plan accordingly."

"It's okay, I don't have anything going right now. I'm not on the show until later."

"Oh okay," she said. "But don't you have friends around here? I thought that you knew people around here."

"Yeah, I mean, I do," he said. "Just not very well. I've worked briefly with some of the guys here, but nothing extensive."

"What about Paul Wight? He came from WCW, so don't you know him?"

"Well, it's very different in WCW, everyone kind of hangs around with people they wrestle with, and Paul had some big storylines and I had…well, crap," Chris said. "Our paths didn't exactly cross all that much."

"So basically you were lonely and that's why you dragged your poor girlfriend along with you and then she got sick of it and now you're on your own," Stephanie said, pretty much calling him out. He was surprised that she was so astute. "Pretty much hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

"Uh, yeah, wow, I didn't think I was that transparent," he chuckled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I am a little bit lonely, though I'm making friends, you know, a lot of the guys here are really great, I just need the time to get to know people."

"Yeah," she said, then paused and bit her lip. "Okay, so I'm really not supposed to tell anyone this, but since you're lonely and stuff, uh…do you know Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, Eddie Guerrero, or Chris Benoit?"

"Are you kidding me?" Chris said. "I'm great friends with them. They're awesome, especially Benoit." Chris tended to get like a giddy, little schoolgirl around Benoit. He couldn't help it though as he looked up to the man.

"Oh, good, well, I have it on good authority," she said, leaning in closer to him, "that they will be joining the company in January."

"Are you serious?" he asked, leaning in a little bit closer, like they were spies trading some crazy secret with each other.

"Yeah, they're already in discussions with my father about it. They're really unhappy over in WCW, and we thought that we could bring them in all together, kind of like a faction or something. Have them think that they're better than everyone here. That's just the preliminary idea."

"So have they been over to your house?" he asked.

She laughed, "No, my father has only been talking to them over the phone. They don't get the house treatment. My father must have just really liked you. But see, now you have something to look forward to and you'll have guys to travel with and you won't feel so lonely."

"My girlfriend will be so happy, I begged her all week to come with me."

Stephanie laughed, "I'm sure that was priceless."

"Pathetic is more like it," he laughed with her. "It sucks to be the new kid. Did you feel the same way when you first came here for your regular job? I imagine that you had been around before that of course, but not as a regular."

"Yeah, of course," she said. "I didn't want people to think that I was just Vince's daughter and that was the only reason I was here. I worked my ass off to get here, and I deserve to be here. I just don't want people to think of my last name and think I'm some ditz who is riding her daddy's coattails."

"People will see your talent, I'm sure they will," he said.

"Thanks," she responded genuinely. "Sometimes you need to hear that."

"And sometimes you need to hear that you won't be friendless for very much longer."

"True," she said as she finally pulled a sheet out of her hands. "Okay, found it, finally, sorry I kept you waiting for so long, but here you go, just make sure you get here on time, especially on Pay-Per-View days because they are so important, we like everything run especially smooth on those days."

"I know, got it, thanks," he said. "See you around, Steph."

"Later, Chris."

Stephanie walked in one direction and Chris walked in the other, neither one glancing back at the other as they made their way to two separate destinations. They were no more than 50 feet away from each other when someone bumped noisily into Stephanie, making a mumbled apology as they walked past. The papers Stephanie had in her hand flew into every direction as this rude person just kept going. Stephanie looked over her shoulder, but didn't recognize the person so it must've been someone's guest, and that pissed her off more.

"Damn it," Stephanie said as she saw all her papers flung everywhere. She had had at least two hundred sheets of paper in her file and now they were all over the place. She was only thankful that there was no specific order or reason to what she was holding or else she would've probably started cursing up a storm and throwing a tantrum.

This was a more deserted part of the arena and she was thankful that it wasn't the main hallway or all her stuff would surely get stepped on. She got down on her hands and knees and started to gather together the sheets that were directly in the vicinity. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that some had flung at least 10 feet ahead of her. She sighed and started to pull the papers together, occasionally shuffling them into a neat pile.

"Here, let me help."

Stephanie looked up and saw Chris again. He had a kind smile on his face. "Thanks."

"Rude people, huh? Can't even bother to stop and help you pick up the papers _they_ hit."

"I know," she said as they started their work, gathering up all her stuff. It went faster with him there and before they knew it, they had all of them picked up. They crawled towards the last piece of paper and Stephanie picked it up with a sigh of relief.

She got on her knees and looked over at Chris. He got on his knees too and they just stared at each other for a moment. They were a lot closer than either one had originally thought, barely a foot between them, if that. Maybe it was infinitely closer and it just seemed like the world was between them. Their arms fell helplessly to their sides, the papers still firmly in their grasps though, neither one realizing that they were still holding them. They didn't even remember they were in public, just staring at each other.

Her head tilted, and he recalled that she did that a lot. It was like one side of her head was heavier than the other and it just kind of tilted to that side, wandering off its axis. Maybe that was another of her flaws that made her something so beautiful that his insides were kind of hurting right now from the ache to touch her. What was it about her that made him want to reach out and curl his hand around her waist and pull her closer until they were a breath apart? Her eyes were blinking slowly as if the moment was lulling her sleep, or maybe it was just hazy with lust.

This was just lust, there was something about her body that made him want to take her. He never thought of her intellectually; he never thought of her personality; no, her body was the first and only thing he was thinking right now, or so it seemed. He was just lusting after her, there was nothing more to it than that. She stared at him, wondering what was going on beyond those clear blue pools he called eyes. They were a mystery to her because she knew nothing of this man, but she always felt like if she looked just beyond those pools of blue that there'd be something there, a whole universe, perhaps, trapped in his eyes.

She bit her lip slowly and agonizingly, drawing out this moment far longer than it had any right to be. "Uh, here are your papers," Chris said as he reached forward to hand them to her. She reached forward as well and somewhere in the exchange they lost their cognizance and the papers never reached their mark and fell with a thud, but didn't scatter too much like before. They both kind of sucked in some air as they went down at the same time to pick them up, bumping heads just like they did that first time. They pulled back and laughed a little.

"We have got to stop doing that," Stephanie said and Chris didn't know if she meant bumping heads or bumping uglies.

He rubbed his head a little, "Yeah."

She took a deep breath that seemed stilted at best. "Uh, thanks for helping."

"Yeah," he said. She wanted to kiss him, she realized. She wanted to fuck him right now and she felt insatiable right now as she drank him in. Why did she want him so much? Why were her fingers itching to reach forward and undo the clasp to his pants and pull them and his boxers down in one shot? She resisted, though it took all of her effort. He had a girlfriend, he was just a guy who worked her, he was nothing more than that, nothing, nothing, nothing.

"Steph!"

Stephanie looked over her shoulder at her brother. She picked up the papers quickly as they hastily realized themselves and stood up. "Thanks for helping me pick these up," she said loudly as Shane approached.

"Don't worry about it," he said, "bye, Stephanie."

"Bye," she said as Shane came up.

"What the hell were you doing on the ground?" Shane asked.

"He was just helping me pick up these papers that fell," she explained.

"You're so weird."

She walked off with her brother talking to her, but she wasn't listening. This time she looked over her shoulder as Chris walked off.

He was looking back too.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews for this story, they are seriously all so awesome and I love to hear where you think this one is going. I really like this story and I'm so glad you all seem to as well. Please keep reviewing, they make my day! Enjoy. :)

* * *

Chris leaned back in his chair as he propped his feet up on the table that was sitting pushed against the wall. The locker room was empty except for him. There were a couple guys in the shower as he could hear the water running, but they were probably busy with the whole showering thing that he figured he had relative privacy right then and if he someone came in, well, he'd just have to walk out and find somewhere else.

"Hey," Jessica said. "What's up?"

"You should see what they have me doing for the upcoming Pay-Per-View," Chris said in a whiny tone. "I know that I've been feuding with that girl, Joanie, and that's all well and good, right, I don't really mind. But they have me losing to her at Survivor Series and I just don't think that's fair."

"Because she's a girl?" Jessica asked sternly.

"I don't know, maybe. I just feel like I should get the title, you know. The fans…"

"Don't like you," Jessica supplied.

"I'm more of a tweener, so some of them like me and some of them hate me. But I don't think a lot of people really like Joanie. I think they liked her when she was with DX, but I'm not sure about right now. Maybe they just tolerate her. Plus I've got her stupid boyfriend on my back."

"You do?"

"Yeah, he had the audacity to come up to me earlier and tell me not to stiff her so much," Chris said. "I don't know what's wrong with that guy. He seemed cool at first, but I haven't been stiffing her."

"Maybe he just doesn't like you, maybe he's just jealous."

"Of what? He's going after the title and all of that and I'm still trying to establish myself, what the hell would he have to be jealous over?"

"Maybe because you are superior to him in every way and it's only a matter of time before everyone recognizes it, so he's trying to curb you right now. I can see it because I think you have incredible potential."

"Thanks, Jess," Chris said. "I don't know, I just don't want to lose to her. And yeah, a little bit of that is because she's a girl, and I don't want to lose to a girl."

"You won't be the first one that's lost to her, will you?"

"No," he said reluctantly.

"Well see, it's not like you're going to be the only one who has gone through this. Suck it up and then you'll move on to some other storyline and you'll be happy with it and you'll forget all about this," Jessica told him. "You're still new there, you have to be patient, Chris, you know this. Everything wasn't going to be handed to you. When has anything ever just been handed to you? You've worked for everything and when you get that title, you'll have worked for it too."

"You're right," he sighed, "of course you're right. What would I do without you?"

"Freak out all the time over the littlest things?" she wondered.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I miss you."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I miss you too," he said, "sorry, I probably should have started off the conversation with that."

"It's okay," she said. "Has anything other than what you've been complaining about happened recently? We really haven't gotten to talk much, it's really upsetting, you know, that I can't talk to you whenever I want to talk to you."

"Yeah, it is, if you came along with me though."

"We've discussed this," she told him.

"I know," he said.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go, Chris, I have an early appointment tomorrow and I need to get some stuff done before I go to sleep, are you going to be okay there by yourself? Or do you need me to come down and protect you from the big, bad girl?"

"Shut up," he said good-naturedly, "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I have the day off obviously so I'll call you, we'll talk, catch up, find out what's going on in each other's lives."

"Good, I look forward to it, bye, Chris," she chirped.

"Bye, Jess," he told her, hanging up the phone.

Chris sat back for a few minutes as a few people started trickling into the locker room. Still wanting a modicum of privacy, he got up and walked out, shoving his hands in his pockets. He was done for the night, but there was a meeting after the show was over so everyone was expected to stick around for it. He would much rather just ditch the meeting and go back to his hotel room and chill out for the rest of the evening. Maybe he could buy a movie and just relax.

He had been trying to be one of the guys lately. He had gone out to bars, drunk a little, socialized a little bit. It was still going to be a while before some of his WCW friends came over, so he was trying his best to become one of the guys here. He had gotten in pretty good with the Hardy brothers, who had his laid-back attitude, if not a little too laid-back in Jeff's case. He and Jeff got along well enough though, and he had also made friends with Adam Copeland and Jay Reso, better known as Edge and Christian. They had their own tight-knit group and they were pretty accepting of him into their group.

Still, some nights he just liked to take for himself, "Irvine, hey, Irvine!"

He turned around and saw Jay coming up to him and slapping him on the shoulder, "Hey, Jay, what's up?"

"You, me, Adam, and some ladies we met earlier when we were at breakfast, you in?"

"Nah, not tonight."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then your loss," Jay said as he wandered off. Chris nodded his goodbye as Jay turned around and he continued his walk around the arena. He saw Stephanie cross ahead of him and he jogged to catch up to her, calling her name.

"Chris, hey, what's up?" Stephanie asked as she looked at Chris. "Did you need something?"

"Actually, yeah, I was wondering if we could talk about my storylines. Is that something I can go to you for?"

"Well, no, not really," Stephanie said. "But if you want me to relay whatever it is to my father, or you know, I do sit in on production meetings, so I know what's going on, if it's something that is really concerning you."

"It's not so much a concern as, I just kind of want to talk to someone about it, if you're not too busy or anything. If you are, I totally understand and I'll leave you alone, of course," Chris told her, rubbing the back of his neck. He just wanted to ask why he couldn't win the Intercontinental Championship. He had been working hard for the company and he felt he deserved the chance to win it at Survivor Series.

"Yeah, sure, you can walk me to my office," she told him.

"Great, thanks," he said as he followed her to her office.

The close proximity went unnoticed by them for a short while, but as they walked further and further along it was as if each step brought the heat between them up a couple degrees. Occasionally her hand would brush against his and cause the hairs on his arms to jump up from the contact. Sometimes his hand would brush hers and she would resist the urge to just grab his hand and drag him off somewhere. The man had a girlfriend and that girlfriend was not her. She barely knew him outside of work, barely knew a thing about him. Eventually, they each moved their hands so there would be no accidental brushing of any kind.

They reached her office and he opened the door for her and she ducked under his arm and caught a whiff of his cologne and she closed her eyes. There was something so familiar about it, like her senses were awakening the memories of his touches and the way they had come together those few times they had been together. It made the hair at the back of her neck stand on end even more and it was like every movement she made was somehow amplified and her stomach was in knots.

She tried to push down the feeling and sat down at her desk as Chris sat down across from her. They each fiddled with some things and remained silent for a second, like they were each waiting for the other one to speak first. A few times, they both looked up at the same moment, catching each other's eyes and then quickly went back to what they were doing before Stephanie realized they were being ridiculous about the whole thing.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm just a little upset about losing to Joanie at Survivor Series," Chris said.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just seems…I just want to win, I guess," he told her. "I know, I should just go along with everything, but you know, I guess I just want to hold the title. I've been working my ass off, and I just kind of figured…with the attention your dad paid me that I'd be a little bit more…involved with the storyline, I guess."

"Well, I bet my dad just wants you to work your way up. He's made the mistake of pushing a guy right when he comes in only to have it not work out in the end. He's probably just being cautious. I'm sure you'll get the title and then you'll get a push."

"I know I'm being silly and I'm sorry to dump it on you. It's not like I'm going to go all diva on you and demand that you change what is already planned, I just needed to vent about it. It's just a bit frustrating that I kind of feel like this move was lateral rather than upward like I thought it was going to be."

"Everyone has to start somewhere," she told him. "I'm not exactly loving this storyline that I'm being put in. It just doesn't feel like me, you know. I think that I'll get to be a little bit more like me when I 'marry' Paul, but right now, I feel like a goody-two-shoes, which isn't me that much."

"I guess I can see the parallels, except for the fact that you're the boss's daughter and you can do whatever you want."

"No, I can't, Shane, maybe, me, no way," Stephanie told him, shaking her head. "I just kind of go along with everything too."

"I'm just frustrated," he shrugged. "I just want it all right now."

"You'll get it, I'm sure you'll get your WWF title run, Chris, I can see it," she told him, smiling at him reassuringly.

"How do you even know that?"

"Gut instinct," she told him, tapping her temple. "You'll get that title run. I'll campaign for you if I have to."

"I didn't come here to ask you a favor, Steph," Chris told her. "I just needed to vent to someone that would listen here. I mean, I could've gone to the guys, they would've understood, but you know, you're management and all that, so I really should just come to you with my complaints."

"I'm like the lowest on the totem pole," she laughed, "but you know, I do think that you're talented, so it would just be me getting other people to recognize that you're ready for the big times _now_ rather than later. You weren't given that good a push in WCW, right?"

"Yeah," he said, surprised she had remembered that.

"Well, we can build you from the ground up here, and then make you into a huge superstar and everyone will love you," she told him and he laughed at how optimistic she sounded about that.

"Thanks for the reassurance."

"Well, I do what I can, when I can," she told him. "I do think you're going to be fine here, Chris. You're already impressing people. We wanted you as a heel, but it seems like everyone wants to cheer for you, so I can see you being a face very, very soon."

"That'd be cool, though I like being a heel."

"I've never been a heel."

"You'd be good at it, this thing you play now, it's not you," he told her, then looked at her watch. "Shit, we're late for the meeting."

"Oh yeah!" Stephanie exclaimed, looking at her own watch. "Oh God, thanks for reminding me, I would've completely forgotten and I don't think it would've looked good if the boss's daughter gets to skip the meeting. It's bad enough people think I get special treatment."

"We'll make it, don't worry, it's in the building," he laughed as he got up.

She went to rush past him and ended up grabbing his hand to pull him out of the room, a relatively instinctive gesture. They reached the door where Chris was being pulled and it suddenly dawned on Stephanie that she had grabbed Chris's hand. His heat was so warm and she was almost tempted to squeeze tighter, but instead she dropped it like a hot potato. They stood there kind of awkwardly, neither one realizing that their breaths had kind of quickened a little bit. He was walking towards the door and she didn't think that he was going to open it as she started to lean back against it.

He leaned in closer to her when he got right in front of her and held her breath as he reached out and touched her cheek. Her eyes didn't close, but instead focused on the intensely clear blue of his eyes. He licked his lips a little like he was going to kiss her, but he wasn't leaning in any further so she didn't make any motion to receive his kiss. They just stood there like they were frozen in this one moment of time.

She swallowed audibly, or it least it sounded very audible to her. She bit her bottom lip, feeling her teeth sink into the skin a little bit and she tried to slow her breathing down, wondering why it always felt like this when she was around Chris. He was just so incredibly good-looking and the way he was touching her was making her heart pitter-patter like a drum. Her breath was co-mingling with his, meeting in the middle like warm, sticky heat.

"The meeting," he said suddenly.

"Yeah, the meeting," she told him, taking a deep, steadying breath. "We've got to get to that."

"Don't want to be late."

"It'll only draw attention to us," she commented.

"Yeah, that's right," she said, pulling away from the door and opening it quickly. He followed her as they walked to the meeting area.

Neither one said another word.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thanks again for the reviews, I'm so glad you're loving this story, please keep the reviews coming, I love them all! Hope you enjoy the chapter! :D

* * *

Chris paced the length of his hotel room. He would probably be seeing track marks soon. He was thinking though, so he didn't care how long he had been pacing. In fact, he probably wasn't aware that he was pacing at all. He blew the air out of his mouth slowly as he ran his hand down his face. His fingers were itching to pick up the phone and dial, but his brain was telling him not to pick up that phone. His penis on the other hand, well, that had a whole mind of its own and that part of him wanted one thing right now.

He didn't know what it was about Stephanie McMahon. He couldn't explain it, couldn't even begin to talk about it. She was just so alluring and he couldn't figure out why. They had never really spoken about anything more than business. He didn't know her favorite meal, he didn't know if she liked coffee in the mornings or not, he didn't know her middle name. He knew next to nothing about her, but whenever he was around her, it was like an impossible mission and he just needed to touch her and be around her.

Earlier this evening had been no exception…

"_Shane," Stephanie said. "Don't be such a dick."_

"_Steph, I wasn't."_

"_I was just talking to him about the storyline. Why do you assume that every guy I talk to is going to hit on me, or throw me up against the wall and rape me or something__? I can assure you that I can take care of myself."_

"_Be that as it may…"_

"_No, no, don't do that, you're not allowed to do that. I'm an adult, I work here, I can do and say whatever I want, I can talk to whoever I want."_

_It was on this scene that he had inadvertently walked into. Stephanie and Shane had just had a scene together and now they were arguing. She looked cute when she was angry. Her hands were clenched in fists and her face was flushed. He knew that face, although when he saw it, it was flushed for entirely different reasons. He only stared at her a second before he was going to walk past and get to the locker room so he could take a shower._

"_Steph…"_

"_Like Chris," Stephanie said loudly, grabbing his arm. He hadn't been expecting that and he turned a surprised eye towards Stephanie. Her hand was digging slightly into his arm, her nails creating little crescent moon-shaped imprints on his skin. It was a new sensation for him because she wasn't the type to dig her fingers into his back when they had sex like Jessica was. She would rub his arms and then cup his face, kissing him as she climaxed, arching her body up into him._

"_Uh, hey," Chris said awkwardly._

"_Hello," Stephanie said, but it wasn't really _to_ him, just around him. "See, I can talk to Chris if I want to."_

"_I didn't say you couldn't talk to people. Paul is just…different."_

"_So what? I don't care," Stephanie said. "It's a storyline, Shane, a storyline, get it. I mean, come on, do you think Chris here talks to Joanie the way he does on-screen, are you cool with Joanie, Chris?"_

"_I really don't think I should get involved."_

"_Just answer the question," she told him._

"_Yeah, we're cool," Chris told Shane, shrugging his shoulders. Both of them were being controlled by the fiery brunette in front of them._

"_See, cool, so I can be cool with Paul, or Chris, I can be cool with Chris, let's go, Chris," Stephanie said, starting to drag him off somewhere._

"_Where are we going?" he asked. "I kind of wanted to…"_

"_We're going to talk," Stephanie said loudly, looking back at her brother in anger. Shane just rolled his eyes at his little sister. Sometimes she could be so juvenile, but she was the youngest, the baby of the family and she had been spoiled that way. Stephanie, still angered, dragged him all the way to her office. He just let her, not knowing what else to do. She might hit him if he tried to get away._

"_So…"_

"_Can you believe him? I can't believe he's trying to dictate who I talk to. Do you believe that? I just…I want to strangle him sometimes," Stephanie said, not realizing that she hadn't let go of Chris's arm, and not only that, but she was actually gripping him tighter and tighter as she got angrier with her brother._

"_Uh, do you think that you can…maybe loosen your grip?" Chris implored her._

"_Huh…oh," she said, glancing down at her hand still holding his arm. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry. I don't even know what I was doing. I was just so angry with my brother. I'm sorry."_

"_It's okay, nothing a little Bactene and a band-aid won't solve," he joked as he rubbed his arm where there was a small, dull pain radiating from where she had gripped him._

_Stephanie took his arm in her hands and looked at the damage she had done. It wasn't bad or anything, but she still felt bad and started rubbing at it, trying to make it go away. The friction of her hands on his skin was starting to get to him as little welts formed that outlined where her fingers had been. He was starting to get bothered by all the touching and he pulled his arm away._

"_All better," he said lamely._

"_I'm sorry about that, I just got angry and you were there," she told him. "I guess I have a temper."_

"_Yeah," he said. He fought the urge to rip her cardigan open and then pull the tank top off of her body. He couldn't seem to control these feelings of lust when he was around her, and he wasn't sure that he wanted to anymore._

He sat down on the bed again and picked up the cell phone he kept on his nightstand. He flipped it open, but then he flipped it shut again and stared at it like it was going to blow up at any moment. He didn't have a house show tomorrow and no other engagements. He scratched his arm and thought about what he really wanted to do. It was too cold-hearted though, much more than he was used to being. He wasn't a jerk, he never considered himself a jerk and he didn't want to be a jerk in this situation, but it was just getting to be too much.

He picked up the phone again and dialed her home number. "Hello?"

"Hey, it's me."

"Chris, I wasn't expecting a call from you! This makes my day."

Well that was going to make this tougher, "Yeah, I wasn't expecting to call."

"You must be tired from the show, right?"

"Yeah, a little," he said. "Look, Jess, I think we need to talk."

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately picking up on his tone. She didn't like the sound of that tone, it made her worried.

"It's like this," Chris said with a sigh. "I just…I don't think that we're right for each other…more specifically, I don't think that I'm right for you, or that you're right for me. We just aren't right." Well that came out a lot worse than he thought.

"Chris, where is this coming from?" she asked, confused. They had been having a great time together, and now he was breaking up with her? Something had to have changed. "I don't understand. Last week we were talking about eventually moving in together permanently."

"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry for that," he told her. "It's me, Jess. I'm just not ready to do this with you. I just…"

"Did you cheat on me?" she asked plainly.

"No," he told her, and he hadn't, though he had been tempted so many times. Stephanie was his temptress and sometimes just seeing her made him want to ravage her. "I didn't cheat on you."

"Then what is it? I mean, how could things change so quickly? Things were fine, and now suddenly. Tell me the truth, Chris, is it something that I did or said? If it is, I'm sure that we can work something out."

"It's not something you did," he said with a sigh, "you want the truth?"

"It would be nice, yes," she told him. "I would like to hear the truth."

"There's a woman here that I'm attracted to, I can't…I can't explain it. I don't know, she just occupies my brain all the time, and it's not fair to you if I want something else. I just…I don't want a relationship with her, I just find her attractive and it feels wrong to feel like that when I'm with you, so I'm sparing you."

"Chris," she started with a short laugh, "it sounds like you just have a crush."

"A crush? No, I don't think this is a crush. I don't want to know anything about her, I just…there's something about her that I'm attracted to. In fact, I don't know anything about her now that I think about it. We're just…she's just, I don't even know anymore."

"Chris, this is no reason to break up."

He could tell her that thoughts of Stephanie's underwear were dancing through his head. "Look, I'm sorry, Jess, that's it, I'm sorry, but this has to be over."

"No, I'm sorry, I can't accept this."

"I don't care, and I know that sounds mean, but Jess, if I'm not happy, you can't keep me in a relationship that I don't want to be in," he told her. "I just wanted to make this quick and painless."

"So you call me over the goddamn phone!" she yelled. "What kind of asshole are you?"

"A huge one, look, I really am sorry, I just, I have to go."

He hung up and he knew he was a coward. She deserved better than a phone break-up, he knew this. They had been dating long enough where it should've been face-to-face, but then maybe his head would've socked him one and he wouldn't have let go. He just needed to do that and he knew he looked like an asshole, but he didn't have time for that right now. He could deal with the aftermath of Jessica later. His phone rang a moment later, but he just picked it up and turned it off. He didn't want to talk to her right now.

Maybe they'd get back together, maybe they wouldn't, he didn't know for sure, but right now he just needed to be away from her. The burden of that relationship was too much. It was always holding him back whenever the temperature inexplicably rose between him and Stephanie. He didn't want to watch Stephanie lick her lips and anticipate his kiss when he couldn't do something about it. He wanted to kiss her and Jessica had been holding him back so he did the only thing that he could think to do. It made him a dick, yes, but he'd straighten things out later. There would always be later.

He felt like maybe he should've cared more that he had just broken up with his girlfriend that he had been with for over six months. The funny thing was that he didn't feel that badly about it. He cared about Jessica and maybe he did love her, a little, but he kind of felt free. It wasn't like she tied him down, but it was just this freeing feeling that he had now. Maybe he'd feel worse tomorrow, but tonight he felt like a free man.

There was only one place he wanted to go.

He knew her room by checking with the concierge downstairs. He had explained that he was an employee of Stephanie's and after some prodding he had gotten her room number. He was actually whistling on the elevator as it rose up, the floors passing but the only indication he had of this was the lights passing through each little square displaying a number. 14…15…16…and there he was. The elevator dinged and he stepped off, reading the sign that told him whether to go left or right. It was a right and he went quickly down the hallway, looking at the numbers as they ascended and there it was 1623.

He licked his lips and knocked on the door.

"Chris?" she asked groggily as she rubbed at her eyes. He looked down at his watch and saw that it was only eleven. He expected her to be more of a night owl than this.

"You were asleep?"

"Yeah," she said. "I always go to bed early on the night of a show. The adrenaline crash just makes me sleepy so I've learned to go to bed. Did you need something?"

He rushed at her, kissing her and unleashing over six months of pent-up lust for this woman. She gasped against him, and he didn't even think about the fact that she very well could've been with someone right now. There could've been a man in her bed and Chris wouldn't have cared. He didn't care right now about anything except the fact that Stephanie was near him again and he felt like that hunger was finally getting satiated.

"Chris!" she gasped as he finally pulled away from her mouth and started working on her shoulder of all things. "We can't do this."

"Yes, we can," he told her, his voice strong and steady.

"You have a girlfriend," she reminded him.

"Not anymore."

"No girlfriend?" Stephanie asked.

"I dumped her."

Stephanie didn't say another word as she pulled Chris's face back up to her level. She leaned forward and kissed him hungrily, like she had wanted this just as much as he had. She was clawing at his shirt and he took the initiative to grab the back of her thighs and lift her up. She got the hint and wrapped her legs around him as he held her slightly above him. They didn't break their kiss as they stood there in the middle of the room, her in his arms as they continued to make out. They blindly went to the bedroom and he fell on the bed with her underneath him.

There weren't any words spoken and he went to undress her, pulling off the fitted tank top that she was wearing as a pajama top. He was only slightly disappointed that she didn't have one of her cute bras on, but seeing as how she had no bra on at all, he didn't quibble too much. She pulled off his t-shirt and their skin made contact and it positively sizzled between them. It was like her skin had been holding a protest on feelings until that moment because every nerve was standing at attention and every single place he touched with those expert fingers made her moan and groan and lift her body wanting more.

"It's been too long," she told him breathlessly.

"I'm sorry," he said as if he had something to apologize for. They weren't together, they didn't have a relationship that extended beyond the physical, but here he was apologizing. Maybe he was apologizing for the mere idea of Jessica and her hindering this. It didn't feel like this with Jessica, Chris thought to himself. He thought it was just because he could get this any time with Jessica, but this was only the third time that he had the privilege of exploring Stephanie's body with his tongue.

It was like he knew every curve though. The memory must have been committed to his mind because he was an expert at finding every spot she loved. Clothes were coming off in a hurry and it was mad and frantic this pace. They were going at a pace like they thought tomorrow was never going to come. Tonight was the end of the world for them and they needed to be with each other that final time; that was what it felt like. Their bodies melding together was like finally getting that first sip of caffeine in the morning. It was invigorating and they felt renewed as they clasped their hands together after Stephanie had rubbed his arms in the way that she did. Maybe tomorrow would never come for the two of them.

But they had tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: My computer is on the fritz so I'm giving you this to hopefully tide you over while it gets fixed, sorry this isn't a full update. :( Please leave a review, thanks. :)

* * *

"_Dear God!"_

_Stephanie collapsed next to Chris and tried to catch her breath. Her body was still thumping with her climax and she felt delightfully tired as she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Her body jerked a couple times gently as she came down from her euphoria. Chris laughed as he turned on his side to watch her. He was happily sated too, and now was just watching Stephanie react from her high._

"_That was good," she told him simply._

"_Thank you," he told her and she smiled, but didn't open her eyes. "What__? Were you not paying me a compliment?"_

"_No, I was not, I was talking about the act in general," she told him as she opened her eyes and turned her head. They had been going at it for at least three hours and it was nearing 2:30 and they finally felt like they had enough of each other. They both had a fine sheen of exertion on their skin making the sheets stick to their bodies. _

"_Sure you were."_

"_I was!" she protested. Chris started making little circles on her stomach, sometimes gently caressing the underside of her left breast. It was mostly unconscious in thought and wasn't intended to make her want him again, but his touch was so soft that she was starting to get aroused again from it._

"_If you insist," he said like he believed her, but she knew that he didn't. They just lay there for a few moments as he continued to make nonsensical designs on her stomach and chest with his finger. The act was soothing in a way that she couldn't explain. Mainly, she just liked being touched after sex. She liked the connection. She hated when a guy rolled away or got up to take a shower or eat or something. She liked that little bit of connection afterwards._

"_So you broke up with your girlfriend? I'm sorry, that's rough."_

"_Not really," he said. "I had my reasons."_

"_Traveling?" she wondered. "I know that's why I'd break up with someone...if I had someone that is. I just think that the traveling would be killer."_

"_So doesn't that narrow you down to guys you work with, of whom you said you would never date anyone?"_

"_That does put me in quite the conundrum, doesn't it?" she asked him, reaching up and pretending to rub her chin and think long and hard about it. "Oh well, I can wait to settle down. I'm in no rush, I'm only twenty-three."_

"_That's true," he said. "But no, traveling wasn't the reason."_

"_So what was?"_

_He didn't think he could tell her it was because he wanted so desperately to have sex with her. So he lied his ass off instead, "I just didn't think that we were right together. It was just one of those things, you know."_

"_I know how it goes," she told him. He pulled his hand away from her breast and she was sorry for the loss of contact. He remedied that a moment later as he shifted how he was positioned on the bed and laid down, placing his entire hand on her stomach as he rubbed his thumb on her soft skin. "Relationships can be hard. You were with her for a while, weren't you?"_

"_About seven months," he said nonchalantly. "I wasn't married to the concept of her."_

"_Oh," Stephanie said, "You were really good tonight. Just letting you know so you can inflate that ego of yours."_

"_It _is_ noticeably inflated, thank you," Chris said. "Honestly, uh…I think we've been on a kind of crash course since the last time…"_

"_You felt like that too," she said with a measure of relief in her voice. "I don't know, I think we're lusting after each other. I guess when you find someone you have great sex with you just want to keep having the great sex."_

"_It is great sex," he told her, giving her a smile that almost made her want to move his hand lower. "I can see your point though. We found out we're great in bed together so we just want to constantly be all over each other."_

"_Exactly," she said. "It's strange, but if you don't have a problem with it and I don't have a problem with it and we're not hurting anyone, who cares, right__?"_

"_Right," he agreed._

_She sat up and climbed over him. "I'm just going to get cleaned up, I'll be right back."_

_She disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. He could hear the water running a moment later and he sank back into the bed for a moment. Right now there wasn't a single regret with breaking up with Jessica. In fact, it was a great decision as he thought about what he had just done with Stephanie. She hadn't even cared to ask how long he had been broken up for; she just wanted him like he wanted her, and he liked that. _

_His mind was brought back to the present and he thought about Stephanie in the bathroom. Was this her way of subtly telling him to leave? He didn't know, but he decided to play on the side of caution and got out of the bed and started gathering up his scattered clothes. He slipped on his boxers just as she walked out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her as she went to grab some underwear and put her pajamas back on._

"_Where are you going?" Stephanie asked._

"_Oh, I thought, you know, I'd get back to my room."_

"_You can stay the night, it's late anyways, you're probably tired, I know I am," she said as she pulled her panties up. Chris found himself gazing at them and laughing a little. Written right above the crotch area in pink lettering against the purple background were the words, "cheeky monkey," and when she turned around to grab her pants, there was a cartoon monkey embossed on her left butt cheek. Damn, but she had the cutest underwear._

"_Are you sure?"_

"_Yeah, it's fine," she said casually. "You can go take a shower or whatever."_

"_Thanks, it's too late for a shower, but I can just…get ready for bed."_

"_Feel free to use my toothbrush if you want…unless you think that's disgusting, I have a clean mouth, I mean, you've put your mouth all over me, I think you can use my toothbrush, if you want."_

"_Thanks," he said, saving her from her rambling. He dumped his clothes back on the ground and went into the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror a moment, and he looked content. He went about washing up, and then grabbed her toothbrush, brushing his teeth quickly and then opening the door to shut off the light. Stephanie was already tucked back into bed and she was facing the door, her eyes closed. He would've thought she was asleep if she hadn't opened one eye and smiled at him._

_He smiled back, but her eye was already closed again so he just turned off the light and climbed into bed next to her. He would've liked to have said that they just gravitated towards one another, but they didn't. It was awkward for a few minutes as they both lay on their side of the bed, like they were afraid to touch because it would give them cooties. Never-mind the fact that they had just had sex with each other; this wasn't about the sex. This was about sleeping. Finally, she scooted over and cuddled up to him. Her leg wrapped around his own, her pajama pants providing an extra blanket of sorts._

"_Do I have to sneak out of here in the morning?" he asked jokingly. _

"_We're both adults, who cares?" she mumbled as she nuzzled against his smooth chest. _

Chris didn't sneak out this morning. He got dressed, gave her a parting kiss goodbye and then left and went back down to his own room to get ready for the day. There was a house show this evening and he had to drive there now. The show was in Anaheim and he was currently in Fresno, so he had about a four hour drive ahead of him. He gathered his things quickly and headed off towards the show.

Apparently people had left a lot earlier than he did because when he got there, the backstage area was already filled with wrestlers and divas hanging out backstage, laughing and talking with each other. He had a late night the night before and he and Stephanie hadn't woken up until ten o'clock, which was later than he usually woke up. It was standard for guys to be there around three o'clock for a house show that started at seven-thirty, so he hadn't been late, but still, everyone was already here. He wondered if Steph was here.

She sometimes didn't travel to house shows, he knew because she wasn't on the schedule, but since her character's wedding with Triple H, she had been coming to accompany him to the ring like a good wife did. He wondered if they were going to talk or anything. They didn't have much to talk about, but he'd feel weird completely ignoring the woman he had slept with the night before. There were a few sleepy words exchanged this morning, but not many.

"Hey man, it's about time you got here," Adam said as he strolled up to Chris. "We're on the schedule together and I haven't even gotten to discuss the match with you. I wanted to lay it out beforehand so we know what we're doing."

"One-on-one?"

"Jay got a little beat up in the cage match last night against the Hardys," Adam shrugged. "So they put me with you tonight since you're playing all face now, right?"

"Sort of," Chris said. "So it's a clean match?"

"Nah, you lose, well, you win," Adam said, slapping him on the shoulder as Chris frowned. "Sean's doing a run-in, he's going to get me disqualified, and then we'll beat up on you after the match, it'll be fun!"

"Yeah, sure," Chris said sardonically as he looked at his friend. "So you wanted to get everything squared away, should we get Sean and talk about how he wants to run-in and where?"

"No, that guy's a douche, we'll just tell him when to come in when we see him before the match," Adam told him. Chris just laughed at that, though he agreed with the sentiment. Everyone in the business knew of The Kliq and Sean Waltman was on the outer edges of that clique and it made him think that he was invincible.

"Fine, can we do this a little later though, I just want to get situated and put my stuff down," Chris said as he hefted his bag into Adam's eye-line.

"Yeah, sure, we've got time, we're third on the card," Adam said, "see you later, come catch up with the guys in catering though, we'll hang out."

"Cool," Chris said, "I'll definitely stop by."

"Awesome," Adam told him as he left.

Chris went to find the men's locker room to dump his stuff inside. As he was walking down the hallway following the printed signs that told him where he needed to go, he walked past a door that had "Stephanie McMahon" printed out onto it. He looked at it for a moment before continuing to follow the signs to the men's locker room. He picked a locker and set his bag on the bench in front of it before pulling out his ring gear. He changed into his ring tights quickly before grabbing his boots and putting them on. He was an expert at lacing them up now and did it in no time at all before pulling his guards on. Throwing a t-shirt on over the ensemble, he was ready for the night ahead.

He was going to go seek out the guys in catering, but in order to get there, he had to pass by Stephanie's dressing room again. It was too hard to go by twice so he knocked on the door. "Come in!"

Chris stuck his head in, "Hey, you."

Stephanie looked up and it was like her eyes were smiling. She got up from where she was sitting and reading a magazine and walked over to him. He walked further into the room and closed the door behind him. The lust from last night seemed to consume them again and they were suddenly making out. Stephanie laughed against his lips after a few minutes and pulled away, "And hello to you too."

"How did you get here?"

"Limo took me," she told him.

"How are you getting back to the hotel tonight? Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm going to get a ride with Paul, he already told me he'd give me a ride, he offered when he saw me arriving in the limo. I was going to tell the guy to stick around, but if I have a ride, he didn't need to stay."

"Paul?" Chris asked, "so that means your brother isn't going to be here tonight, am I right?"

She laughed, "Yeah, that's right."

"As long as you have a ride back to the hotel."

"You don't have to make sure I have rides," she told him, and he realized that he didn't. "So what's up?"

"I just wanted to say hey. I better get back to catering though, I have to meet with Adam about our match, but I wanted to just come and see you."

"That's nice," she told him honestly. "So, you better go meet up with Adam, we need you guys to put on a good match or else."

"Or else what?" he asked.

"I'll fire you," she said, trying to sound threatening.

"I'll see you later, Steph," he told her.

Later that evening, he was just getting back to the hotel after going out for some beers with the guys. He was the designated driver though, the downfall of being the last guy to get to catering and therefore being elected the designated driver. So he had spent the evening drinking sodas and talking with guys who were intent on getting drunk. Adam and Matt were falling over each other as Jay kept pushing the buttons to the elevator even though he had pressed it about 50 times by now. Jeff, who wasn't that drunk at all, was making sure the others didn't fall into a wall or something.

"Come on, Chris," Jay slurred, "the elevator's here!"

"You guys go ahead, I've got something to get in the car," Chris said.

"I've got them," Jeff told him and Chris mouthed a thank you as the doors closed.

Chris wandered back out into the night and started walking down the streets. It was December and even though they were in California, the night was still cold, not bitterly so, but cold enough to where he was glad he had a thick jacket on. There was a liquor store just down the street, he had seen the bright sign spinning as he turned into the hotel's parking lot and he went inside, only seeing a couple people milling about. He went over and bought a bottle of champagne, the best stuff they had, which wasn't overly expensive, but enough so that it didn't look like a cheap buy.

He walked back to the hotel and went up to the concierge to get the information that he needed. He rode up to her floor and knocked on the door. He wondered briefly if she was interested in Paul. Accepting a ride from his wasn't that big a deal, but with how close their on-screen characters were getting he had to wonder if they were getting closer in real life. He didn't think longer about it when the door opened. For a moment, he believed that it would be Paul opening it and wondering what the hell he was doing here since he and Stephanie weren't exactly what you'd call friends.

It was Stephanie though and she tilted her head to look at him. "Chris?"

He held up the champagne bottle and swung it around a couple times, "Had to be the designated driver tonight, would you care to join me?"

"Are you trying to get me drunk now? I think I've proven pretty well that I'll sleep with you without the aid of alcohol," she told him, folding her arms and leaning in the doorway.

"I'm definitely trying to get you drunk," he winked at her.

"Well, in that case."

She opened the door further as he walked inside.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: I'm so happy people love this story! :D It is definitely one of my favorites to have ever written so to have people liking it too, it's just the icing on the cake. Thank you SO much for the reviews and please keep them coming because I love them and I love everyone's take on the little clueless couple in this story and Stephanie's crazy underwear. Enjoy! :)

* * *

"_So it's been about three weeks."_

"_Three weeks, no way," Chris told her, looking over her shoulder as she looked at her datebook._

"_It _has_," she told him, turning her head slightly to get a better look at him. He was staring down at the page in front of her which showed a tiny box for each date. Her finger was resting on the little box that was three weeks and two days prior to the date they were at._

"_That's the right date?"_

"_Yes, that's the right date," she told him. _

"_Well, it's not like you had it written down," he responded. "If you had a little note telling you, I might believe you."_

"_It was the night that you wrestled Sean and Joanie interfered by clocking the ref," she told him. He looked at her in amazement. "I have a good memory okay. It's been useful since I was a child. I just have a knack and don't give me that look!"_

"_I wasn't giving you a look. You know nothing of my looks," he said defensively. "I was just in awe that you can remember things so clearly."_

"_Well, if I want to get into the creative aspect of the show I'm going to have to remember stuff like that. It's just what goes along with the job."_

"_You want to impress your dad, huh?"_

"_It would help," she shrugged. "But back to the subject at hand. It _has_ been three weeks. I know this, now you know this. See, three weeks." She ran her finger down the month until she came to the current date._

"_I can't believe it's been three whole weeks. That's a really long time."_

"_I know, it is," she said to him. "I couldn't believe it myself, but it's right there, I mean, we're staring at it right now so it's not like it isn't true. I just…I didn't think about it until I went to go write some meetings down that I had."_

"_Well I didn't think about it at all," he said, lying back in the bed. "Crazy, man, crazy."_

"_I know, I just…I didn't think we had…for that long," she said, lying next to him. "So weird, well, not weird, we knew what we were doing and all that. I just hadn't expected that span of time, you know."_

"_I know," he told her. "So we've been sharing rooms for over three weeks, man, I thought it had been a couple weeks tops. I guess I just didn't pay attention to how many nights we were spending together."_

"_Yeah, me neither," she said. "You've spent pretty much every night in my room for the span of three weeks."_

"_Every night," Chris corrected, "at least every night we were on the road. I didn't follow you home."_

"_Good, I wouldn't want to find you in my bushes one evening."_

"_I'll change my hiding place then," Chris joked and she kicked him lightly in the shin. He turned and frowned at her as they lay there. They were still fully clothed though, and hadn't been fooling around. Stephanie had just been writing things in her datebook while Chris watched television. They had been sharing a bed for the past three weeks. Chris would usually come late at night and then spend the night. It was an amazing feat that they had managed not to get caught thus far. _

_It wasn't like they were doing anything wrong though. Neither one had a significant other so if they chose to have no-strings-attached sex, that was their prerogative. There were no pressures of a relationship, just sex, and sleeping, and they were both fine with that. If they happened to get caught, whatever, that was their thinking, whatever. If it happened, it happened, but they weren't hurting anyone, so what did it matter?_

"_Good, you can camp out in my tree," she said. She scrunched up her face for a moment and he stared at her._

"_What's with the face? Do you hear something?"_

"_No, I was just thinking."_

"_Of?"_

"_Kind of hungry," she said. "I should have eaten more earlier. Room service is already over."_

"_Do you want me to go get you some food?"_

"_No, I can't ask you to do that," she told him. "It's not your responsibility to feed me. I should've just ate more while we were at work today."_

"_Come on, I could eat too," he said. "Then you wouldn't feel like a loser. It's not that late, there's got to be an IHOP or a Denny's open or something. It'll be a midnight snack or something. Come on."_

"_Really?"_

"_Sure," he shrugged. "Why not? It'll be an adventure."_

_She laughed, "Sure it will."_

"_Yeah, so hey, I was thinking, and you know, you don't have to agree or say anything," he started as they got out of bed to put on more appropriate going out clothes. "I've spent all my nights here, so why do I still get a room?"_

"_That's right," she said. "You shouldn't have to pay for a room that you don't even use. You don't even keep your clothes in there, you keep them here so you can change and whatever."_

"_Yeah, it's kind of pointless."_

"_So let's just share," she said. "We can alternate paying for the room that way it's fair."_

"_Yeah, and then it's just not a waste of money for either of us. That sounds like a good deal."_

"_Definitely," she said. "Well now that that's settled, let's go out…I'm not paying for you by the way. I've seen you eat in catering and you eat like a horse, so you can just pay for yourself, buddy."_

"_Same goes for you."_

Stephanie walked backstage with Paul after his match with X-Pac. It had been a short affair, barely lasting longer than three minutes, but she had had a part in it, pushing X-Pac onto the turnbuckle and then leaving him there. Her heel turn was a lot of fun and she loved playing the bad guy. She felt like it suited her personality better.

"Well that was fun," Paul said.

"It was," she said, then turned to walk off when she felt Paul's large hand gripping her upper arm. She turned back to him, "is there something you needed Paul?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go out to dinner with me tonight," he said. "You don't have to say yes right now, but I thought that maybe we could go for a late dinner, or even a drink if you're not hungry."

"Well, I have already eaten, but…wait, wait, wait, aren't you dating Joanie? I thought you two had been together for a while?"

"No, we broke up," he told her. "I just…I don't know, wasn't working out."

She thought back to Chris's lame excuse for dumping Jessica, which later he revealed had been because he was having a hard time keeping his hands off of her. She had been flattered by that sentiment, and now Paul had a lame excuse, "Seems there's a lot of that going around."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"So um…a drink then, since you've eaten?"

"Sure, I guess I could go for a drink, I'm not doing anything after the show. Just come find me," she told him.

"How did you get here?"

"Limo," she said. Chris happened to walk by right then and he waved at her politely and she waved back before turning back to Paul. Paul looked over his shoulder at the retreating blond.

"Are you friends with Irvine?"

"No, not really," she answered and she honestly didn't feel like she was Chris's friend. She didn't really know all that much about him, despite the fact they were sleeping together. She felt like she knew nothing of the personal details of his life. She didn't know what his preferred pizza toppings were, or if he was…wait, no, she knew if he was a boxers or briefs guy, he was a boxers guy, but she didn't know much else about him, like why he had decided to wear his hair long, or where the Jericho had come from in his ring name.

"I don't really like him."

This surprised her, "Really? Why?"

"He just rubs me the wrong way. He comes in here, thinking he's the shit, and he's going to rule everything and it just rubs me the wrong way. Don't you get that vibe from him, and then just now, sucking up to you, waving when you aren't even friends."

Well, he was waving because they were roomies, but she just looked at Paul, "I don't think he's come in here thinking he's above anyone else. I think he's just here because he saw an opportunity, and he took it. He is talented."

"Yeah, I'll give him that, but I mean, he's not main-event material."

"Oh."

"So about that drink…"

"Yeah, just come find me after the show."

"Cool," he said, squeezing her arm amicably before wandering off. Stephanie stood there for a moment and tried to think of the past several months since Chris's debut and wondering if he was such a cocky guy. She wasn't seeing it though. He seemed very humble with himself and his career. He could've gone to her father to complain about that Survivor Series match against Joanie, but he had only mildly complained to her and that was the end of it; he had gone with what creative wanted. They never discussed Chris's long-term goals and what he wanted. When they were together, they didn't really talk serious business. Sure, it would come up more often than not, but he never asked for favors, and surely he could have given that they were sleeping together.

She didn't think about it anymore and went back to her dressing room to change into some more comfortable clothing and go over some accounting documents her father had asked her to peruse. She was a whiz with accounting so she was usually his consultant on the matters though she hated doing it for him. She was buried up to her ears in numbers when the knock came on the door. Happy for the distraction she called out that it was open and Paul walked inside.

"Hey, you ready?" he asked.

"Geez, sorry, I was distracted."

"We've got a match," he told her.

"Oh crap!" Stephanie said as she pushed him out the door and went back to change into her outfit.

After the match was over, she went back and changed again and gathered up her things so she was ready when Paul came.

He took her to kind of sports grill that had a long bar along one wall. He walked with his hand on her lower back and they found a couple of stools and she took a seat as he ordered her rum and Coke for her. He sat down and smiled at her as they waited for their drinks. She looked up at him and then over at some of the monitors, which were showing highlights from the day's basketball games. Her drink was slid in front of her and she took a sip, letting the cool liquid slip down her throat.

"So, you don't have a boyfriend?" Paul asked.

"Nope," she said. "I tend not to date wrestlers."

"Oh," he said, visibly rebuffed. "Ever?"

"I make an exception every now and then, if I really feel like it."

That calmed him down, "You know, you're really good in the ring. You play your character really well."

"Thanks, you're a natural being a heel, I should take pointers from you."

"You should," he joked, "it's easy, it's better actually. When the fans hate you, you don't owe them anything. And sometimes they won't even bother you."

"Well, I like that," she joked. "So tell me, why did you ask me out for a drink? I'm guessing it's not to talk business, and judging from the way you deflated when I told you I didn't date wrestlers, I'm thinking that you want to date me."

"It's hard not to want to date you when you're playing my wife for television," he told her honestly. "I mean, we're always touching and kissing, and sometimes…"

"Sometimes," she prodded.

"I don't know, don't you feel anything between us when we're doing that, because sometimes I do, sometimes I feel like we have this connection."

"We're like actors, Paul," Stephanie reminded him. "We go out there and we play a part. I'm not as much of a bitch as I come off as, and I'm certainly not estranged with my family. We all play our roles."

"Yeah, I guess, I just feel like there could be something more between us, and I'm done with that embarrassing revelation for now."

"It's sweet," she said, but didn't want to speak of it further, but then she thought about it, "Sometimes, sure it feels like more, I'll give you that."

"Really."

"We _are_ playing a married couple," she shrugged, taking another sip of her drink. "It doesn't mean I'm going to haul off and fuck you or anything, but working in such close quarters is bound to stir up something."

"Yeah," he said, taking a swig from his beer.

"So who do you think is worthy to feud with you?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Nobody," he joked and she laughed. "But if I must feud with someone, the usual suspects."

"Yeah, my dad has suggested you and Chris."

"Irvine?"

"Yeah," she said. Her father thought it might be a good idea to get Chris higher up in the company. A feud, done right, against Paul would be the way to go with that. She kind of wanted to see his reaction to that.

"Man, I hope not. I don't think I'd feud well with that guy."

"Maybe," Stephanie said, taking a large sip of her drink. "You could do worse though, he's a nice guy."

"Thought you weren't friends."

"We've talked for business," Stephanie told him, rolling her eyes. "It's not like I've never spent time with the guy. I've spent time with everyone on the roster. I'm able to formulate my opinions. Maybe you're jealous of him."

Paul guffawed, "Nah, I mean, I'm sure he's a nice guy if I got to know him or some such bullshit like that, but I just don't think we have the same kind of personality."

"You can't be friends with everyone."

"You know, you're kind of a mystery, Steph," he told her. "Just when I think I have you figured out, you do something so out of the ordinary."

"What's out of the ordinary about saying that you can't be friends with everyone?"

"Nothing, I just…you're way more blunt than I ever thought you would be. I guess I should've expected with the whole McMahon genes and everything, but I guess I figured you'd be more demure like your mother."

"I love my mom, but I'm nothing like her," Stephanie said, finishing off her drink. "I'm just myself and if that's me being blunt, well, that's me being blunt, I guess. I don't know how I am, or how it projects to other people, I just am what I am."

"That's what I like about you though," he told her, "do you want another drink?"

"Nah, I don't want to get back to my hotel room drunk," she told him. "I have to have a clear head for tomorrow, we've got a house show to be at and the last thing I want to do is go out there with a hangover, it's an afternoon show so everyone has to be there early."

"That's right. Luckily it's not too far from here."

"Yeah, it's like an hour away," she said. "So I don't want to look bad when I'm out there. I like to put on a good show if I can."

"You do," he told her, and he leaned in a little closer to her. "You're really beautiful, you know."

"Well, unless you have the lowest tolerance for beer _ever_, you're not drunk, so I'll just say thanks," she said to him, smiling slightly. "That's something a girl always likes to hear, and I love hearing that."

They talked for a little while longer, and it was fun. Paul was a nice guy once you got past that gruff exterior. They talked about a lot of things, their childhoods, how they got to where they were and what kind of things they liked. They didn't have a lot in common (she thought his love of muscleman competitions was a bit on the creepy side), but they had a good time. Before she knew it, he was walking her towards her hotel room and they were laughing over a story Paul was telling her about when he was training with Killer Kowalski and how he had completely fallen off a turnbuckle in what felt like slow motion.

"This is me," Stephanie said as she stopped in front of the door. "That was fun, I think I can play your wife even better now."

"Well, that's a plus," he laughed. "So…does the night have to end here?"

Stephanie raised an eyebrow. What kind of girl did he think she was? "What kind of question is that?"

"I thought we could talk more, I really liked talking to her," he said to her. She got the feeling it was more and she wasn't that kind of girl and felt like telling him that.

"I'm not really that kind of girl if you think I was going to let you in and have sex with you."

"I wasn't…that wasn't, I didn't mean for you to think that," he stuttered and actually sounded genuine. Maybe he was a better actor than she gave him credit for. She folded her arms in front of her. "Okay, so I thought we could make out a little, but that was it, I swear."

"Wow, so you thought that not only would I kiss you, but I'd make out with you?"

"We've made out on TV."

"True, but this isn't being filmed, unless you're way more kinky than I ever could've figured."

"No, no cameras."

"I can't let you in," Stephanie said. She didn't sleep alone was the reason why he couldn't be let in. Chris had not informed her about any plans tonight, so she figured he was going to be in the room and talk about awkward. Plus, she didn't want to make out with Paul.

"Oh, well…um, I'll see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, you will."

He leaned in like he was going to kiss her and she watched as his eyes closed. She pulled back a little bit as he kept leaning in. She quickly stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. He pulled back, embarrassed as she gave him a short wave and stuck the keycard in the door, waiting for the light to turn green and slipping inside. She sighed and walked inside, dumping her purse on the table in front of her. She looked towards the bedroom and saw Chris lying on his stomach watching the television.

She kicked off her shoes and went into the bedroom, flopping down on the bed next to him, "What are we watching?"

"Conan," Chris said, "Where have you been?"

"Paul asked me out."

"Oh really?" he asked curiously, "A date?"

"I guess," she said and he smirked, "shut up!"

"I said nothing, I just didn't know you guys were going out," he said. He didn't have a hint of jealousy in his voice, but there was a twinge of _something_ in his voice that they both picked up on. She paused a moment, staring at him.

"It was a one time thing. He was nice, but no, not breaking-the-rules material."

"So not worth dating?"

"Nah," she said, shaking her head. She got off the bed and went over to her suitcase, pulling off her clothes. Chris watched her for a few seconds. He had already seen her underwear that morning, and he had seen all the underwear she had brought with her. It was official, she must have some cute underwear store that she went to because every piece of underwear she had was enough to make him laugh.

"Your standards are way too high."

"Just the way I like it," she said over her shoulder. "He doesn't like you."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he thinks you're cocky and that you think you're better than everyone."

"Wow," he nodded. "Have I been giving off that vibe to people?"

"No, I just think he's jealous," she said as she came over and sat next to him again. He flipped on his back and pulled her on top of him. She settled her body against him and kissed him, their inability to keep their hands off each other lasting about six minutes and twenty-seven seconds. She moaned against his mouth as the tank top she had just slipped on was slipped off again.

He flipped them over so that she was beneath him and she reached inside his boxers and he groaned against her mouth as her fingers touched him sensually. "You think he's jealous."

"Yeah," she mumbled. She slipped her hands to the elastic of his boxers and pushed them down. He pulled away from her to get undressed and she did the same with her own clothes and they moved to the head of the bed where he started ravishing her again. She arched up against him, wanting her release.

There was a knock at the door and Stephanie pulled away from Chris. "What the hell?" Chris said. "It's past one, who the hell is that?"

"Let's go see," Stephanie said as she grabbed her robe and slipped it on. Chris didn't bother getting dressed as they walked to the door. Chris wrapped his arms around Stephanie as she peeked through the peephole. "Paul," she groaned. "Of all the fucking times to interrupt."

He kissed her, "I'll be in the bedroom waiting to finish what we started."

She winked at him as she opened the door. "Paul?"

"Sorry, I didn't want to bother you, but you left your coat in my car. I thought you might want it."

"You couldn't wait until tomorrow to give it to me?"

"No, just wanted to see you again."

"Oh, well, thanks," she said, snatching the coat from him. "See you at the show!"

She slammed the door in his face and threw the coat on the couch and then threw her robe off and let it land on top of the coat. She walked into the bedroom to see Chris laying on his back, flipping through the channels. She climbed on the bed and got on top of him again, rubbing her hands up and down his chest as she got situated.

"You're blocking the TV," he told her playfully.

"Fuck TV," she told him.

"I'd rather fuck you," he said, tossing her on the bed and resuming where they started.

There was a certain possessiveness to their sex this evening. It wasn't overtly there, but the way that he took her solidified that he would be the only one doing this with her. She gave herself completely up to him, letting him dictate the pace and the heat that manifested itself between them. It was like she was giving herself over to him. It was the first night where there seemed to be some strings attaching themselves to each other, but it was gone when Chris rolled off of her and went to his side of the bed.

"Do you think you'll go out with Paul again?"

"I don't know," she said later as they were about to fall asleep. "Maybe. We do work closely together and sometimes I do feel some attraction, maybe it's worth pursuing, I don't know."

"Maybe…" he said as he buried his face in his pillow.

"Then again, maybe not."


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I love that you guys love this story because it has been definitely one of my favorites to write. Hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a review if you want, thanks. :)

* * *

"Stephanie, open up!"

Stephanie opened her eyes slowly as she heard her brother yelling. For a moment it felt like they were kids again and she was trying to get her up for school when she was a little girl. She rubbed her cheek against Chris's chest for a moment, like a cat rubbing up against its owner. She glanced at the clock lazily and saw that it was already ten o'clock. She hadn't expected it to be that late, but she and Chris had a late night last night.

"Stephanie!" Shane called out again.

Stephanie's eyes widened as she looked to the man who was still asleep in her bed. For the most part, she and Chris had been able to hide the fact that they were roommates. They usually just met up with people downstairs or outside their room and never invited anyone in. It just wasn't anyone's business as to what they did in their free time. Who cared if what they did was have tons of sex?

"Chris," Stephanie said, nudging him as she got up. "Chris, wake up."

"What, is it time to go already?" he asked.

"No, but my brother is here so you have to be quiet and not come out of the bedroom, okay?" Stephanie told him. She put on some clothes hastily, grabbing her robe and tying it over her tank top. She went into the other room and grabbed anything that belonged to Chris and threw it into the room. She went back over to Chris and looked at him, "Don't come out there, okay?"

"Sure," he told her with a smile, though his eyes were still closed.

"Chris, are you listening to me?" she asked playfully, but she was being serious as well.

He opened his eyes to look up at her, boring his eyes into hers. "I heard you, and I will not come out there, now can you go see what your brother wants so that I can go back to bed?"

"You're not going to go back to sleep," Stephanie told him. "Once you're up, you're up, you're weird like that."

"Go!" he hissed at her, turning over so he wasn't facing her any longer.

She stuck her tongue at his back and then went and closed the door to the bedroom. She was lucky that she usually got suites and this one had a short little hallway between the bedroom and the sitting area so it wouldn't seem so unusual that the door to the bedroom was closed. She went up to the front door and could hear her brother's knocking getting progressively louder.

She opened the door and folded her arms in front of her, an annoyed expression on her face. Shane had an equally annoying look on his face. "What took you so long?"

"Aside from the fact that I was _asleep_?" she wondered sarcastically.

"Asleep, do you know what time it is?"

"Yeah, I know what time it is, and it's Wednesday I don't have anything to do today except go home later and then I don't have to get back to work until Saturday, so I was enjoying what is essentially my Friday," Stephanie said.

Shane couldn't much argue with that logic and he scowled at her, "Still, you shouldn't have kept me waiting for so long."

"Well, I had to get up and make myself presentable," she told him. "What do you want, Shane?"

"I want to know why you didn't tell me that you went out with Paul last week?" Shane told her. She rolled her eyes, "Don't roll your eyes at me, Stephanie. I told you that it wasn't a good idea to get involved with that guy."

"First of all, I'm an adult, not your little baby sister anymore," she started. "I'm of legal age, Shane, have been for a while now, so all this concern is just going to fall on deaf ears. Second of all, how the hell did you find out that I went out with him?"

"Well, last night, at the SmackDown tapings, I happened to overhear it from someone."

"Oh," Stephanie shrugged. "Okay, as long as Paul wasn't going around inflating what actually happened, I don't really care who knows I went out with him."

"What! Why didn't you tell me that you went out with him? I told you that I didn't like the guy. He just…I don't even know, I don't trust him though, I'll tell you that. I bet you he was spreading rumors about you and now everyone is going to think you have a bad reputation."

"Shane, we're not in high school!" Stephanie argued. "I just went out with him for a drink because he asked me to go out with him for a drink. I felt it was the polite thing to do. We work together. We work very closely together so it was an opportunity to get to know each other a little better. Did Paul maybe have intentions of it going further than that? Probably, but it wasn't any more than that."

"I trust you, Steph, I do," Shane sighed. "I just worry that you're going to get sucked into something here and some guy is going to use you. Paul seems like the type to do that. I'm not saying you're stupid or naïve, I'm just saying it's so easy for a guy to take advantage of who you are."

"Shane, I know that, I knew that before you _and_ Dad _and_ Mom drilled it into my head. I know very well that guys are going to want me solely because of what they think that I can do for them," Stephanie told him. "It comes with the territory, and I'm dealing with it, believe me."

"I know, you're smart," he said. "I just worry, I don't want you stuck in some relationship where you're unhappy but you feel like you can't leave."

"Do you know me, Shane? Have you met me?"

"Okay, okay, okay, I get it," he said, punching her in the shoulder lightly. "So you haven't eaten breakfast yet?"

"No."

"Do you want to go grab something downstairs in the coffee shop? I haven't eaten either so I could join you," Shane offered.

"I would, normally, but I think I'm going to go with room service this morning," Stephanie said. "I feel like being a lazy bum before I have to go home, but maybe we can do lunch around…one before our flight later?"

"Yeah, sounds good," Shane said. "Eat light then so you're not a freaking pig eating so close together."

"Shut up," she told him practically shoving him towards the door.

"Okay, I'm going, lazy ass," he teased. She just pushed him even harder and he laughed at her as he opened the door and let himself out. She let the door lock behind him and stood by it for a few seconds to make sure that he didn't come back immediately and need something else.

"Coast is clear!" she called out. The door to the bedroom opened and Chris came out. He was wearing a pair of pajama pants with no shirt. His hair, which was usually a mess, was pulled back into a ponytail, which meant he had gotten up to brush it and she smirked at him. "Oh, well, lookie here, someone got up and brushed their hair."

"Shut up," he said good-naturedly. "It's late."

"Uh huh," she said as she went and grabbed the room service menu, "Are you hungry?"

"What kind of question is that?" he asked her as he looked over her shoulder. "Get me the eggs benedict, and coffee."

"I was getting coffee anyways," she told him.

"So what did your brother want?"

"Freaked about me seeing Paul, told me the usual spiel about how I have to be careful, how I shouldn't date guys in the business and all that. I tell him time and time again I'm not interested in dating guys who are in the company. When I decide to settle down, I'll settle down, you know," she said and he nodded. "I figure by the time I want the marriage and the kids and all of that, I'll be working out of Titan."

"So you don't plan to be on-screen forever?"

"No," she said. "I think everyone has a shelf life, you know, and I don't want to wear out my welcome, I'll know when the time comes to take a step back. At least I hope I know, I don't want to be really old and still popping out like I'm some twenty-year-old, right now it's fun, but I don't know where I'll be down the line."

"That's smart of you, and it'll give you the chance to find someone not in the business."

"Exactly," she said. "I figure that the guy I'm going to be with is out there, I just don't think he's in the company, nor do I want him to _be_ in the company."

"What if it's a security guard?" he joked.

"Okay, well, if it's a security guard…no, then he'd want to be made into an executive, so no," she said. "Has to be completely out of the company, not even janitorial staff. He can be the janitor at some other building, just not Titan."

"So strict," he said, shaking his head as he chuckled.

"What about you though?" she asked as she picked up the phone. He didn't know what she meant by that, but contemplated what she could mean as she went about ordering their room service for them. She ordered his eggs benedict and then a Belgian waffle and a fruit salad for herself before she hung up and turned to him, "What I mean is…how long do you see yourself wrestling?"

"Wow, you know," he started, but then paused. He took a seat next to her on the couch and thought about the question. "When I was younger, I thought something like fifteen years would be great, you know, set a timeline. I said that I didn't want to be doing this when I'm forty…"

"Fair enough," she said with a nod, "though you'd probably still be good."

"Thanks," he said to her compliment, "but now that I think about it, I guess as long as wrestling stays fun for me."

"Is it still fun for you?"

"Yeah, where else can you take out your aggression and get paid for it?" he joked. "I love wrestling, it's opened up so many doors for me."

"Plus you've worked your ass off to get here," she pointed out.

He smiled at that. One night he had pretty much told her all of the shit that he went through to get here. She had never heard anyone's story to the WWF before and she had been amazed by his. She didn't have too many friends backstage, not ones she hung out with and shot the breeze with. The people she was friends with were divas, who usually took a much different path than any of the wrestlers. She had been fascinated by his story though and he thought it was really funny that she would be so interested in it.

"Yeah, I did."

"You deserve to be where you're at."

"I think so too, maybe even higher than where I'm at," he winked. "Oh wait, I can't, Paul would never go for that."

"If he knows that you know that he doesn't like you, he's going to know it was me that told you," she said.

"I'm not going to do anything about it," he said. "I just find it funny that he finds _me_ so threatening. I mean, yeah, I'm the co-IC champion, woop-de-doo, does he really think that I'm going to come out of nowhere and take his title?"

"I don't know," she told him. "I guess so. He just knows you're better I guess."

"So he asked you out again, remember, and you said you'd get back to him with the answer. This time it's a date though, like dinner date."

"I know what it is, I was the one that told you," she said. She sighed and pursed her lips, "I don't know what to do to that though."

"Uh, say that you're busy, maybe washing your hair."

"Would you care if I went out with him?"

"Why would I care?" he asked casually. "We're not dating."

"I know we're not dating, but we're roomies," she responded. That's what they referred to themselves as. They were roomies, they weren't lovers, they weren't dating, they certainly weren't in love, those words didn't even come up in casual conversation. They were just roomies, people who shared a room and inexplicably found themselves lusting after each other.

"If you want to, that's fine," he told her. "I mean, you can't ask him back here unless you want me to start getting my own room again."

"No, I don't want that, where would you be when I need you?" she told him, licking her lips a little.

"You're insatiable."

"I can't help it!" she exclaimed. "You just make me horny, that's all."

"Of course I do," he said as there was a knock at the door. "That should be our room service. I'll get the tip."

"Sign it off on the room," she told him. "You're paying anyways."

"Fine," he said as he went to the door and looked through the peephole to make sure it was the room service guy. It was the room service guy and Chris let him in and the guy went to push their food to the center of the room. He signed off on the meal and then left. "You can go out with Paul if you want, it's not like I'm going to stop you. If you want to go out with him that is."

"I don't have the slightest idea," Stephanie said. "He's a nice guy…well, to me."

"He did say that he wanted to make out with you though," Chris remembered, "_and_ you said that he wasn't breaking-the-rules material."

"Thank you Mr. Journal of Obscure Moments," Stephanie told him. "You're right though. He's persistent though, and well, when we're working together, sometimes I do feel something for him. I mean, I don't know, maybe it's just like, we're forced to work together so I'm forced to feel something."

"Could be," he said as he placed their plates down on the table and poured her a cup of coffee. Unconsciously, he put a couple of lumps of sugar into her cup.

"Yeah, it could be," she said, then shook her head, "Come on, let's just eat and head out."

They ate their breakfast, chatting occasionally about the show the night before and how they thought it went. They had done a scene together earlier this month, but that was the only contact they had ever had on-screen so they had much to discuss when they were talking about their respective jobs. After breakfast, they had the usual routine of getting their things together and getting ready to start the day.

"So I'll see you on Saturday?" Stephanie said as they were at the door about to leave.

"No, I don't have house shows this weekend."

"Why?"

"Got the weekend off, so I'll see you on Monday then? You're paying for the room, right?"

"Yeah, I've got Monday," she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, "See you Monday then?"

"Yeah, see you," he said, letting her go out first. They walked down the hallway to the elevator and then down to the lobby where they parted ways amicably. Stephanie was walking towards the coffee shop to eat with her brother when Paul jogged up to her. Oh, if Shane saw this, he was going to throw a hissy fit.

"Hey, Steph, wait," he said as he caught his breath. "Hey."

"Hey," she said. "Why were you running?"

"I thought you might be leaving, you have your luggage," he said.

"Oh," she responded, "yeah, I'm going to lunch with my brother first, then we're going to head to the airport and fly home."

"Yeah, I'm flying home later too."

"You live in New Hampshire, right?"

"Yeah, you remembered."

"I'm usually good at that," she said.

"So did you think about what I was saying? About the dinner?"

"Oh, that," she said slowly. She really didn't want to think about it right now. She still hadn't come to a decision about that, and she didn't want to be forced into one right now when she was in the middle of a hotel lobby and waiting to go meet up with her brother. "I remembered it."

"Good, so…uh…yes?" he asked hopefully.

She wondered why he had such an interest towards her. There were much prettier girls in the company, not even in front of the camera, but behind the camera as well. She understood that they were working very closely together so it was bound to be easier just to fall into a relationship with him since they were pretending to have one anyways, but she had to think about whether this was something she wanted in her real life.

She wasn't seeing anyone except Chris, and that was barely anything. So they slept together every once in a while…or every night they were working. It wasn't like she followed him to Florida or he followed her to Connecticut or he took her out on dates or something. They shared a room, they had sex, lather, rinse, repeat, lather, rinse, repeat. She could very easily break it off with Chris, and that was one of the stipulations to what they had. If one of them was in a relationship, then it was off, they couldn't have sex with one another because they'd be hurting someone in the process.

So it wasn't like she wasn't available. She was very much available to be with Paul if she so desired. That was the key word though, _desire_. Did she desire to be with Paul? She wasn't attracted to him physically, but that part of her life had been so consumed with Chris. She desired Chris and lusted after Chris more than she had lusted after anyone before so maybe that was overriding her attraction towards anyone else.

Maybe being with Chris was the entire problem! Maybe sleeping with him was clouding her judgment towards other people. That could be it, she thought to herself. She could very well be attracted to Paul, but there was no urgency for physical contact because she was getting tons of physical contact with Chris. When they were alone they could barely keep their hands off each other and they pretty much had sex whenever they had the time and the room to do so. She recalled once when they had done it in the parking lot after work. They had been two of the last people left and she had rented her own car so there was no limo waiting. They had just gone at it like two teenagers. So maybe she did want Paul and didn't know it.

"Paul, I like you," she said, and his eyes lit up, "but we're just coworkers, I'm sorry."

"Oh, well, yeah."

"Yeah, I'm sorry, it's just…I like you as a friend," she told him.

"That's fine, thanks for clearing that up," he said. She nodded as he walked off, looking a bit dejected. She felt bad for a moment, but knew it was the right choice. She just wasn't attracted to the guy and she wasn't willing to sacrifice the best sex of her life for that.

Maybe some other day she might feel differently, but today was not that day.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and I know that Chris and Steph need to open their eyes, hopefully they'll do that soon. If you want, leave a review, enjoy. :)

* * *

"Hi, there should be a key for me here."

"Name please," the man at the concierge requested.

"Stephanie McMahon," she said. "The room should be under Chris Jericho though, but he probably left my name."

The concierge typed something into his computer and Stephanie tapped her fingers mindlessly against the marble top of the counter. She looked around, half-expecting to see someone she knew, but there was nobody in the lobby that she knew at the moment. She turned back to the concierge as he continued to type something into his computer. He smiled when he located something and then turned his eyes back up to her.

"Okay, you're in room 926, which is on the ninth floor," he left for a moment and came back with her key. "Here you go, enjoy your stay Ms. McMahon."

"Thanks," she said, picking up the key and pulling her luggage towards the elevators. She got inside the elevator when it dinged and watched the hotel as she rose up through the glass elevator. She could see a family walking down the hallway on their floor, the kids tugging at their parents' shirts, excited over something. She got off on her floor and followed the numbers to her door, sticking the keycard in and opening it up. She saw walked inside and saw Chris sitting out on the small balcony that was in their room. "Hey!"

Chris turned and saw her and his face lit up. He had been feeling particularly lonely waiting for her to show up to their room. "There you are, what took you so long?"

Stephanie groaned. "Don't remind me of what I've been through. The plane was delayed and then when I was actually _on_ the plane, since it was delayed we had to sit on the tarmac for a very long time and I was seated next to a woman with a fussy baby. I've had it up to here with people in general," she finished, raising her hand to her forehead.

"Come here," he said, pulling her hand away from her face and scooping her up into his arms, "do you know how much I was craving your body."

"What do you want to do to me?" she asked licking her lips a little, feeling his body pressing up against hers.

"Everything," he told her huskily before leaning to the side and nipping at her earlobe.

"Well, you're going to have to wait because I stink. I've been on the plane for hours and I feel all grungy."

"I could use a shower," he said, nuzzling against her neck.

"No," she told him, sticking her tongue out. "You can wait until tonight."

"I can?" he asked. "Since when can I wait? I had sex with you after knowing you for less than a day, what makes you think that I'd be able to wait now that I can have you any time that I want you."

"Anytime, that's a little presumptuous don't you think?" she wondered, raising an eyebrow at him. "Seems like you're under the assumption that I would just up and spread my legs for you whenever you want me to."

"When can we have _that_ arrangement?" he smirked.

"You are not funny," she told him, shaking his head. "You can wait until later. You're a patient guy, besides, we've got a full week ahead of us, we don't even get a break this week because we're flying to Europe on Wednesday."

"Who are you sitting next to on the plane?" he asked.

"Probably my brother, we'll probably be at the front making sure that everyone behaves accordingly, I'll have to keep my eye out on you."

"Sit next to me."

"Oh yes, that'll be fun, and what will we talk of, huh, Chris? The room we share expenses to? That reminds me, I don't think we'll be able to share a room while we're over there."

"Why not?"

"Because the higher-ups and my parents keep a closer eye on things when we're overseas. They want to make sure that everyone is in a specific place, you know. Here in the States and in Canada everyone is just in charge of getting their own room, but we're a little more coordinated in Europe."

"Yawn, thanks for the lecture," he told her, pretending to yawn for her and she shoved him away a little, but it didn't break the hold between the two of them. "So I'll just have to sneak in your room then?"

"I'm not sure yet," Stephanie said. "Besides, the only reason that you'd want me next to you on the plane is so I can give you a handjob or something disgusting like that. Six hours of sitting next to each other with nothing to talk about? No thank you, I don't even know anything about what you like so I have no idea what I'd even talk to you about."

"Well ditto," he said, "I was just suggesting it."

"Uh huh, you wanted the handjob."

"Okay, sue me," he said.

"Besides, you have friends now, Benoit, Malenko, Eddie, they're you're friends and you'd much rather spend the trip with them, I know it," she shrugged. "I'd much rather spend it going over work or reading."

"Reading?"

"I read!"

"Okay, I didn't say anything."

"I'm going to go take a shower," she told him, "I just want to relax and not worry about anything tonight. Everything can be worried about tomorrow when we have Raw."

"Well I had a house show today, so I want to relax too," he said, starting to unbutton her blouse. She looked down at him, but didn't say anything. He glanced up at her with that damning look on his face that she found so sexy. He slipped her shirt off and kissed the space where her neck met her shoulder. He went for her skirt next, unzipping it slowly and pushing it down to the floor.

"What are you doing?" she asked redundantly.

"Helping you get undressed for your shower," he told her. "I'm trying to be nice!"

"I see that."

"You're wearing the candy-cane underwear," he smiled. She rolled her eyes at his fascination with her underwear. He had names for all of them and he always commented on what she was wearing that particular day. "Do you want to grab dinner after your shower? I'm starving and what kind of roommate would I be if I didn't invite you to come along?"

"No room service?"

"I don't want to just get room service. I want to go out," he said in a whiny tone. "I'll go by myself if you're too tired to go, but it's almost seven and I'm really starting to get hungry so if you're not going to come, let me know now so I can go and you can bathe alone…I know, I know, you'll miss me in there with you, but you'll deal."

"I want to come, I'm hungry too, airline peanuts are not really filling," she said. "Let me just take a shower and we'll go. What do you feel like eating? I mean, I don't even know what kind of food you like."

"What do you like? I've never asked."

"I'm up for anything, I'm not in the mood for any one thing. Do you want to play it safe and just go Italian? You like Italian, right? Or pizza, we can go get pizza."

"Italian is fine, I think I saw one driving up," he said, "so go take your shower."

He slapped her on the ass as she flipped him off and went into the bedroom. He went back out onto the balcony and sat down, propping his feet up on the railing. He heard the shower turn on his room and he thought briefly about going to join her despite the fact he had already taken a shower earlier. It was just the thought of being with her again that got him wanting to strip down and climb inside with her. When it came to her, the lust was high and he didn't regret a moment of their arrangement.

It was strange that she was just so willing to accept a sex-only relationship. He had had a couple of one-night stands, but he had always gotten the impression that the girl wanted more than one-night. Stephanie didn't seem to care either way if he came or went as long as she could get the good stuff. She gave the good stuff too, and he was happy that she hadn't decided to date Paul because he couldn't imagine not getting to touch her soft, supple body.

He was so zoned out he didn't notice her come up behind him until she was next to him. He looked over at her and asked, "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready," she told him. She gave him a hand to help him up and he took it, letting her help to pull him up. He deigned her cheek with a kiss and she went to grab his purse while he grabbed her wallet. "So we are going Italian?"

"Sure, yeah."

"I'll pay," she said and he opened his mouth to protest and she shook her head. "It's your night for the room so I should pay for dinner at least."

"I can't ask you to do that."

"Who cares?" she shrugged. "I'll pay if I want to."

"You are a strange one, McMahon," he said as they walked out of their room. They looked both ways and saw it was clear so they started walking towards the elevator. "How would a guy even begin to figure you out? Maybe that's why you don't have a boyfriend."

"Hey, I'll have you know that I turned down Paul, so it's not like I don't have the opportunities," she pointed out as she pushed the button for the elevator. "He's just not my type. He's all…bulky, I'd fear that I'd get crushed by him."

Chris snickered, "Okay, that was a good one…hey, wait, what are you saying about my physique?"

"That it's awfully nice," she winked, "ever had sex in a glass elevator?"

"I'm crazy, Steph, but I have a problem with that, there are children in the hotel."

"You're right, just asking." They got onto the elevator and she gave him a suggestive look and he started laughing because it was just so hilariously ridiculous he couldn't help but start to laugh in earnest. It was contagious as she started laughing too until they were almost doubled over in a fit of giggles. The doors opened to the lobby and they tried to gain their bearings as Chris saw Dean Malenko coming over.

"Hey, Dean," Chris said as the man approached, "what's up?"

"Nothing, just hanging out," he said, then nodded to his boss, "Ms. McMahon."

"Stephanie," she corrected.

"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry," he said. "So Chris, you got plans for tonight? A few of us, you know who, were going to go out for a while and relax, you know, shoot the breeze."

He didn't even glance over at Stephanie, but she was feeling a little out of place. "Chris, I'll see you around, thanks for the entertaining elevator ride."

"Oh yeah, sure," he said, wondering where she was going. He turned back to Dean and replied, "Usually I'd love to, but I'm pretty beat from my match so I was going to go grab a quick bite and then come back to my hotel room and watch a movie or something."

"You're going soft, Irvine."

"Nah, sometimes I need a break, but we'll catch up later, see ya, man," Chris said, slapping the other man on the chest before walking away. This had happened a few times and he knew that Stephanie would be waiting right outside the doors. He walked through the doors a moment later and there she was, leaning back against the wall. She saw him and caught up with him as they continued to walk.

"Didn't feel like going out with the guys?" Stephanie wondered.

"Nah, I made plans with you," he said casually. "Besides, I'm starving and going out drinking on an empty stomach, that's just asking for me to come back to the room stumbling down drunk and looking for sex."

"So besides the drunk part what's the difference from every other night you come stumbling into the room?" she teased.

"Oh, that's very funny," Chris said. "I've seen you stumble into the room looking for sex too, so I don't think that you should be talking."

"I probably shouldn't, but I know you like my mouth."

"It is a pretty mouth," he told her, leaning in close to her ear to say that. She smiled coyly, trying to appear innocent, but she never did a very good job at that. Even when they had first met there was nothing innocent about the way she had engaged him, and if he had thought her innocent at all that first meeting, she had completely erased that perception the second she was tearing his clothes off. One thing that had changed since then was their sex was a little less frantic-paced. They took it a lot slower now that they had the time to engage in each other.

"Yeah, and this pretty mouth is starving."

He opened the door for her, a natural habit of his when he was around a female. His mother had drilled that into him when he was younger and now it was so ingrained in his psyche he didn't think much of it. Stephanie got inside and he jogged around to the other side and slid into the car, turning it on and turning the heater on. They sat there for a few minutes to let the car heat up since it was bitterly cold outside.

"Paul's been hinting that he wants to ask me out again," Stephanie told him, trying to make conversation. "I really think he's getting into character too much."

"Well, maybe he can't help it," Chris responded.

"But what can I do about it?"

"You can end the storyline."

"My dad would never go for that, he says that people seem to love it so we're going to ride it out for as long as we can."

"So insert someone into the entire thing," Chris said. "Like Kurt for example, haven't you had a couple of scenes with him? If you have him as the go-between, Paul will be focused on putting on great matches he won't even pay attention to you."

"You know, that's a great idea, you're a genius!" she exclaimed.

"See, and you thought sleeping with me would have no benefits."

"I never said it didn't have its benefits," she told him, running her hand up his leg. "It has plenty of benefits."

"Oh, like what?"

"Well, like I didn't have to pay for my hotel room," she told him, pulling her hand away. "Definite benefit there."

"Well, you're paying when we move towns."

"Yes, yes, I am. That was part of the deal, wasn't it?" He nodded and pulled into a parking lot of a small, but cute Italian restaurant. It looked like the type of place that would try to be all real-life Italian, but it would essentially mean fake grapes hanging all over the place and posters of Italy on the walls. Those places usually had awesome food though. They went inside and it was exactly like she pictured it and she giggled to herself a little, which earned her an odd look from Chris as they were shown to their seats.

"Oh man, since you're paying, I'm stocking up," Chris said excitedly. She shook her head and looked at her menu. There were so many delicious items that she didn't know what to chose. It took her until the waitress came over to decide on the eggplant parmigiana. Chris ordered his menu and she looked around the place and saw there were couples pretty much all around them.

"We're like the only people in here who aren't on a date," she said in sotto voice.

Chris looked around, "Yeah, I guess you're right. Kind of makes me feel pathetic."

"You're only mildly pathetic, I mean, you had a steady girlfriend pretty recently, so you were at least in a relationship. Until you dumped her because you wanted to have tons of sex with me, which, well, that benefits me a lot."

"It wasn't just about the sex," he told her glibly and she tilted her head to look at him critically, scrunching her mouth to one side and folding her arms in front of her as she leaned back in her chair. "Okay, it was about the sex with you, but I just couldn't see a future with her so why should I have stayed with her if I didn't see it going anywhere, waste of my time."

"You're an asshole," she told him with a laugh.

"No, I'm not," he argued.

"Okay, maybe not too much of an asshole, but still, you just got out of a relationship, whereas I've been single for such a long time. I'm way more pathetic than you. I haven't had a relationship, a steady relationship since my junior year of college, that's how pathetic I am."

"It's not like you're fifty or something," Chris pointed out. "You're young, and you went out with Paul so it proves you're putting yourself out there. It'd just be hard for you, or for me, or anyone who travels with us to find a relationship where you're away most of the year."

"So I'm just screwed then?"

"Absolutely," he said. "This is what you get when you make rules for yourself."

"Don't mock me," she pouted. "You would too if you were in my position. My brother is lucky, he's known his wife since they were in grade school so she's always been around. If only I had someone I knew as a kid that I grew up with and married and then I wouldn't have _Paul_ chasing after me like a lovesick puppy."

"Maybe I would, I don't know, maybe I'd use my leverage to sleep with all the ladies," he said, gazing past Stephanie.

"Eww, not while I'm eating," Stephanie said as she buttered another piece of bread. "I do not need to picture you trying to engage Trish and Tori in a threesome. That would freak me out."

"First of all, I don't even know Trish…"

"I told you about her the other night."

"Wait, the blonde, the one who was a model or something?"

"That's the one."

"I don't even know what she looks like."

"What's your type?"

"Female," he deadpanned. "What kind of question is that?"

"It's just a question. I mean, Jessica was blonde and Trish is blonde and I thought that maybe you were attracted to blondes and you might want to see what's what with her," Stephanie said.

"I don't know, I guess my type is just someone I feel comfortable around and like, and have stuff in common with, you know the usual stuff," he told her. "And second of all to all of that, I'm not some man-slut."

She giggled at the term, causing a couple people to look there way. "Sorry, I didn't think that you were."

"Good," he said as their salads came. Chris held his plate out and Stephanie started pushing the kidney beans across her plate and onto his.

"God, I hate kidney beans," she shuddered. "Do you want some of my dressing since I got it on the side?"

"Yeah, thanks," he said as she poured her dressing on the salad and gave the rest to him. She knew he liked a lot of dressing on his salads and since she always got the dressing on the side, she just gave the rest to Chris on most occasions. "This is really good, I wonder if they make it here."

"Probably, tastes homemade, you made a good choice in places, I'm impressed, if I _were_ your date, I'd so put out."

"You'll probably put out anyways."

"That's true," she laughed. They went back to their meal. "I still don't know how you can eat kidney beans, they're disgusting."

"I don't have to explain anything to you," he said good-naturedly.

That's what made things so good, there was never much explaining. They were just two people who wanted to have sex with each other and they were fine with that. They had no desire to learn anything more about each other. Chris didn't want to go to dinner at her parent's house, and she didn't want to meet his parents. They just had fun together and it was nothing more than good sex and no talking.

Nothing more…


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys, glad you're enjoying this one, even if it is a little frustrating. Also if you read HaK, sorry of the non-update, but the next chapter will be up soon. If you liked this, reviews are appreciated, thanks. :)

* * *

Chris and Stephanie never took care to notice the time. Not the time of day or the time of night, but the accumulation of time. They never made note of days and weeks and months that passed between them. They didn't think much of time; there were no silly anniversaries on any particular day. There was just weeks filled with work and more work and traveling and everything that went along with that. Before they knew it, more than three months had passed since Chris had dumped Jessica and he had sought out Stephanie.

Neither one was counting though.

"So, guess what?" Stephanie said as they were watching TV in their room. They were sitting on the couch in the sitting area. Stephanie had her back against the arm of the chair and her legs stretched out and across Chris's lap as he sat slouched on the other end. They didn't have to be at SmackDown for another couple of hours so they were killing the time in their hotel room.

"What?"

"My dad _finally_ approved the storyline to go ahead between me and Kurt…and Paul," Stephanie added.

"Yeah? You've only been asking your dad for what…three weeks now?"

"That sounds about right," she nodded. "I finally broke him when I told him all the ideas we could come up with for it. I think he was impressed. That's a first for me, I think half the time my dad still thinks of me as a five-year-old wanting to play grown-up."

"Well, you can't blame him."

"Are you saying I'm a child?"

"No, I'm saying you're _his_ child. He's always going to see you as a little kid, my parents do, or at least my dad does, I know he does, and my step-mom, I swear, see, she didn't grow up with me, my dad married her after I was already wrestling and on my own, but I think she thinks I'm like twelve and constantly needing some babying. That's probably why I try not to spend too much time up there."

"With your dad?"

"No, I spend time with my dad, I just try to avoid my step-mom as much as possible."

"Typical kid move," Stephanie said. "You aren't twelve like you said, suck it up and take it."

"Your parents are still married, what do you even know?"

"I _see_ things, I observe!" she argued. "What about your mom though, does she baby you?"

"Uh no," Chris said, slightly uncomfortable now, but Stephanie couldn't read him well enough to pick up on it. She just sat there patiently as he paused, tasting the words in his mouth for a moment. "I tend to think she thinks that she's the child in the relationship now."

"Oh, wild child of the 60's or something?" she laughed.

"No, not like that," he said, then quickly changed the subject back to her, "So your dad was impressed, huh?"

"Yeah!" she said, not even realizing that he was deliberately trying to change the subject. "He said that it was a really good idea and it would create some buzz around my character and would definitely be a good foundation for a really strong feud between Triple H and Kurt Angle, and I agreed, and my father even said that one of the possibilities for a resolution could be me leaving Triple H and going with Kurt."

"So your Paul problem would be solved?"

"Exactly," she said excitedly, clapping her hands in some sort of physical demonstration. "Once we're not working together, he'll forget all about this stupid crush that he has on me, and all will be right in the world."

"For a few minutes before Kurt starts wanting you."

"I don't think I'd have a problem with that," she admitted.

He turned to her and widened his eyes in surprise. "Don't tell me that the strict Miss McMahon may have found someone worth breaking all the rules for?"

"I'm not saying that, but he's so sweet," Stephanie gushed a little. "He's an Olympic gold medalist and that has to count for something, but honestly, he's a really nice guy, all around. I like talking to him, he's really funny in this dorky way, I don't know, he's just cute I guess, don't you think so?"

"No! Who do you think you're talking to? I'm not one of your girlfriends. I don't know if a guy is cute or not."

"Oh come on, I know you aren't gay, we have sex all the time, we had sex an hour ago because we were bored, so you can tell me if you think a guy is cute, it won't emasculate you in my eyes."

"Okay, there are so many things wrong with that sentence. We had sex because _you_ can't keep your hands off me if you see me without a shirt on."

"No, I do that plenty of the time when I see you at work."

"That's different, that's work, we both have things to do there and I think people would find it a little suspicious if we just started having sex in the ring or backstage near the gorilla, or in catering, or in the men's locker room."

"Only a little suspicious?"

"A lot suspicious?" he asked drolly.

"So you look good without a shirt, you were just coming out of the shower! I plead temporary insanity on the cause of you having too hot a shower and the steam making me delirious," she told him.

"Whatever, and I just don't look to see if a guy is cute, sorry."

"Okay, so picture him right now and tell me."

"No, I'm not doing that."

"Fine, whatever."

"You know, I actually did meet that Trish chick yesterday," he said, changing the subject again.

"Yeah, she's been coming backstage to get acquainted with the traveling schedule since it's not easy just jumping into it. My dad said he's holding off her actual debut until March sometime. I think she's just going to be a valet like me, she hasn't had training."

"I wouldn't mind training her," Chris said.

"So you won't tell me if a guy is cute, but you will talk about how you want to nail a girl?"

"I didn't say I wanted to nail her," Chris argued. "I'm just saying that she's really pretty. Really, really pretty."

"I told you she was probably your type, obviously you like blonde girls since Jessica was a blonde, I'm so cool that I just know these things," she told him haughtily. Chris shoved her legs away from him, but she just put them back where they were. "You should ask her out."

"No way, I think I should just take up your rules."

"You're going to take up my rules about not dating within the company."

"Haven't you noticed that the wrestling business is all kind of incestuous with regards to relationships? Everyone's slept with everyone else, the girls have slept with most of the guys and the guys have slept with most of the girls. It's just easier to be with someone in the company you're working for because you get to see them, but you don't know where that person's been."

"Okay, answer me this, how many women have you dated that you worked with?"

"Two," he said, "one in ECW and then one in WCW."

"So you're not above it," she pointed out.

"I know, but I should be. I don't know who's slept with whom and there's something very…just weird having to be friends with people when you've all slept with the same women," he shuddered. "You've obviously been with nobody in the business, so you wouldn't know."

"Like I said, I observe, but no, I can safely say that I've never dated anyone in the business."

"Good, you don't need to insert yourself in that, but Kurt's new, chances are he hasn't gotten around to doing that yet, so you should strike while the iron is hot so to speak."

"Trish is new too, I don't think she'd be around the wrestling block," she told him. "Just saying, she's probably not tainted, as you would put it. I'm also resisting the urge to ask you who the two women were."

"You wouldn't know them anyways."

"I know a lot more than you think I know, Chris."

"I sure as hell believe that, but neither one really made it big. They were really just there to pass my time. It gets lonely on the road so you just seek out someone to keep the bed warm at night, you know. That's what they were. I'm not exactly a womanizer like the people we work with. I can count the number of women that I've been with on one hand."

"You can? No, you can't be serious."

"Well, fine, two hands, but no more than that. There was my first, then a couple in Japan, so that's three, then those two, and Jessica, and you, so seven, which is tame compared to some of the guys around here."

"Who do you think has been with the most people?" she asked, wanting to gossip.

"I have no idea."

"Me neither," she said.

"It's hard to tell sometimes, some guys really love the ring rats."

"I don't get those girls."

"I think some of them just want to bag a husband."

"Probably," she said. "You know, you make a good point. If I were to date Paul, like date him and become his girlfriend, I'd have to do so knowing that he was with Joanie for a really long time, and I still don't know the specifics of their break-up--"

"Um, he found out she was a man."

"Chris! That's not nice."

"Sorry, sorry, she's a pretty cool chick."

"But I'd have to see her all the time, and it'd be awkward and Paul is _not_ as attractive as he thinks he is."

"He thinks he's attractive at all?"

Stephanie laughed, "You're just saying that because he made it clear that he doesn't like you."

"And really, what is _that_ all about? I've barely even talked to the guy and suddenly I'm enemy #1 in his eyes."

"Whatever," she said. "I'm going to get going though, I have to meet with my dad before the show like usual. We still on for dinner after the show though? Because I want barbeque!"

"Wow, way to be weird right there," Chris told her. "Yeah, we're on for dinner. I know this really great place here in Dallas. We used to travel through here a lot when I was working in Mexico so I know a ton of great places, I'm going to get you the best set of ribs you've ever eaten."

"I want brisket," she said, her mouth practically watering. She got up off the couch and stuck her tongue out at him as she got dressed and left him there alone.

She was sitting with her father a short time later, watching him as he finished up a phone call to the company lawyers. He finally hung up the phone and smiled at her, "Hello, Princess."

"Hi, Dad, so what did you need now?"

"What do you think of Chris Irvine?"

Stephanie coughed a little, thinking for a moment that her father knew about what was going on between her and Chris. She'd be really embarrassed if her father found out she was sleeping with Chris for no other reason than to sleep with Chris. "What…what do you mean?"

"Well, you've obviously seen him, he's our current Intercontinental Champion and I'm wondering if you see a title in his future?"

"You're asking me…you're not asking Shane?" she asked with wonder.

"Well you had that great idea about you and Kurt, I thought I'd follow that up and see what you really know," Vince explained to her. "I think that I might like you on the creative team and I really want to see how you would handle some of the things going on. You already covered the WWF title with Triple H and Kurt for later on this year, so the IC title is next and it's currently on Chris, but I was thinking, what if we took it off of him and put him into the main title picture."

"Oh, um, wow, I know he'd probably like that as it's probably one of his goals." Or _was_ one of his goals actually. "He's really quite good, which I'm sure you know. I like him in the ring, he's got this attitude that I think would suit the main event and he might be a nice breath of fresh air, you know. I can definitely see him making a title run. It doesn't mean that he has to lose the IC title, it can, but I like to think that you could have him be a big name player."

"What kind of storyline though?"

"I don't know, um, maybe one with Paul. I think that they could create a lot of tension between the two of them. With Paul so intense and Chris so cocky, I could see them clashing quite nicely for a feud. Plus, Paul doesn't really like Chris in real life, so that could add to the intensity of a feud between them."

"He doesn't like him, this is news to me."

"Oh, well, that's what he told me, but I definitely think that everyone would benefit from making Chris a bigger part of everything."

"Well, thanks, next time we can talk about some of the other guys, I really like your insight."

"Thanks, Dad," she said as she stood up and walked out of there, feeling particularly good about herself. Her father was actually listening to her ideas. She didn't know if any of them would actually come to fruition, but he was seeking out her opinion at the very least. He usually just went to Shane so it was kind of an honor for him to come to her as well.

"Hey, Steph."

"Kurt, hello," she said as he came up beside her. "You're here early."

"Just wanted to be prompt, you know, get here early so I'd be able to warm-up and stuff for later."

"That's really smart of you."

"So how are you?" he asked.

"I'm great, actually, my dad is actually hearing me when I'm talking about the storyline as opposed to thinking that my opinion doesn't matter, it's a big thing for me," she said. "I'm just really glad he doesn't see me as his little girl anymore."

"Well, he's your dad," Kurt said.

"Yeah, but how are you?"

"I'm good, very good now that I've seen you."

She laughed, "What a line."

"I know, I don't know what came over me," he said.

"How are you liking the company so far?"

"I'm really liking it. The traveling is a little hard at first, but I think that I'm actually falling into the groove of things. The time on the road really helps you appreciate what you've got when you go back home, that's the best part of it."

"And where exactly do you call home?"

"Pittsburgh," he told her. "Born and bred."

"Nice," she told him, "I've been there several times."

"Cool," he said. "So what's the story on you, Stephanie?"

"It's a very boring story," she told him.

"I like boring," he winked at her. She found that she was leaning against the wall as Kurt stood in front of her a little bit. Out of the corner of her eye she saw someone walking and turned her head slightly to see Chris walking in. It looked like he had just gotten there because he had his duffel bag slung over his shoulder. She didn't pay much attention to him as she turned her focus back to Kurt.

"You like boring stories about boring lives? Because trust me, I'm the most white bread person in the entire world. Sheltered life doesn't even begin to cover it."

"How sheltered can you be growing up in the wrestling business?"

"Okay, you've got me there," she said as Chris walked directly behind Kurt. He turned to Stephanie and starting making kissy faces to her and her eyes widened briefly. She kept her cool though and gave him a short glare before he started mouthing for her to ask him out. He made a funny face and kept on walking. She couldn't believe the nerve of that guy. "I haven't had _that_ innocent a life, but in some respects I have."

"That's what I thought," he told her, now leaning with one hand on the wall next to her, like they were in high school. "I bet you've got some stories."

"Plenty of them," she said coyly. He was staring at her with those blues eyes of his, which bore into hers. She was taken in for a moment before she broke free from his gaze. "Would you excuse me, Kurt? I've got to go talk to someone really quick. I'd definitely like to pick up this conversation where we left off though, definitely."

"Absolutely, later, Steph," he said, his voice considerably lower than when they had started talking.

She walked quickly down the hallway towards Chris's locker room. He had started getting his own locker room a couple of weeks ago. Stephanie had secretly requested he get one so if the urge arose for them during the show, they had privacy. She pushed open the locker room, not even caring if he was naked or not because she saw him naked all the time. He was just taking his shoes off when she walked in.

"Well if it isn't Mrs. Kurt Angle," he teased.

"Shut up," she told him, sitting down next to him. "I think he was going to kiss me right then."

"And you came here to…say that you can't share the room expenses with me anymore?" he asked, a twinge of disappointment because he really liked her body.

"No, that didn't cross my mind, what I wanted to tell you was my dad was asking me about you and he wanted to know if I thought you were main-event material!"

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I'm dead serious," she said. "He thinks that he can fit you in, he thinks that he can set up a feud with Paul for you, well, I suggested that because that way you can get back at him for all the shit he was saying about you, but I just had to tell you because I know that this is what you've been striving for and Kurt distracted me for a bit, but then I saw you and I realized I should tell you because I definitely told him that you should be in the main-event."

"Thanks," he said genuinely, leaning over to hug her.

"Well, it was nothing, I just kind of reinforced what he already knew, but if all goes well, you could be holding the title by the end of the year. Totally of your own accord of course, because you've worked to get here. Me putting in a good word for you is nothing because I've seen you wrestle and you're great and you deserve the recognition."

"Wow, this is really great, I'm really excited," Chris said, rubbing his hands together. "Thanks for relaying the message, you can go back to flirting shamelessly with Kurt now."

"I wasn't flirting shamelessly."

"Then what did you call that?"

"Talking…closely."

"Wow, you are a weaver of words," Chris said sarcastically. "So go, don't let me keep you. We'll talk later at dinner, unless Kurt-wurty boy asks you out first and he just can't wait and _must_ take you out."

"No way, you're taking me to the best place in Dallas."

He laughed, "Darn tootin'"

"Wow, Texas does strange things to people, do you have a cowboy hat and chaps in your bag?"

"Role-playing? Stephanie…kinky."

"Eww, no…well, except…that one time," she giggled as she gazed at Chris. He was looking rather good right now. She glanced back at the unlocked door and Chris looked at her watching that door like a cat ready to pounce. It only took her a moment later to get up and lock the door before going back over to Chris. She sat down in his lap and started making out with him feverishly, their libidos getting the better of them as he flipped them so she was on her back underneath him.

He let his hands roam against her body as she arched up into him, wanting him right now. It wasn't enough they had sex that morning, she needed him again and she needed him now. She fumbled with his belt buckle, glad that he hadn't gone all Texas-sized belt buckle for tonight even though she knew he had bought one yesterday. He was taking off her skirt deftly, as they struggled to unclothe each other.

"I thought you wanted to go talk to Kurt," he mumbled against her neck as he made his way down to her breasts.

"You thought wrong."


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Thanks for the reviews for this one, I really appreciate them. I really have a soft spot for this story and I hope you continue to enjoy it. So read on and if you feel like leaving a review, it'll make my day, thanks. :)

* * *

"_Hey…you over there."_

_Stephanie groaned._

"_Steph…"_

"_Chris, stop," Stephanie said._

"_Oh my God, I can't have worn you out that much," he told her._

"_I can't move," she told him, opening her eyes, "so very, very good."_

"_Well thank you, I like to think that I do my job very well," he told her with a cocky smirk. She raised her arm half-heartedly and slapped him on the side. He grabbed it and kissed the palm of her hand and then swirled his tongue around her fingers. "Mmm."_

"_Get away from me," she said good-naturedly, trying to push him away. She pulled her hand away and tucked it under her head as she lay there on her stomach, eyes closed, the sheets only coming up to her mid-back, creating a tantalizing picture for Chris._

_He poked her in the side, "Steph…"_

"_What do you want__?" she asked. "Stop poking me, we just__ had sex, you can't want more so soon. I mean, you can, but I don't want to, so go take care of yourself or something."_

"_I'm insulted, you could definitely take care of me if I was so inclined, but that wasn't what this was about. I wasn't going to suggest we have more sex unless you want more sex in which I'd be happy to accommodate you."_

"_No, tired, sleep, three in the morning."_

"_I know what time it is."_

"_How in the hell are you still wide awake__?" she wondered. "I want to go to sleep, Chris."_

"_You're not even in your pajamas, you like to sleep in your pajamas."_

"_I'm too tired to get them. I don't know where they went after you threw them off of me. I should invest in rip-away pajamas where you just tear them and off they come." Chris laughed at that and got off the bed. He grabbed his boxers, which were hanging off the edge of the bed and slipped them on before going on a quest for Stephanie's clothes. He found them lying in various places and each time he found a new item he threw it onto the bed. _

_When he had located her three items of clothing, he went over to the bed and pulled the sheet down to expose her body. He turned her over and was tempted to ravish her, but she was pretty much sleeping at this point and she needed the rest. Tomorrow was a going home day and they wouldn't have work until Saturday. He grabbed her panties and started to pull them up her legs. She groaned, not knowing what he was doing when he lifted her leg up. She was like a child wanting nothing more than to take a nap, but she settled down when she felt the fabric against her legs._

"_So how are things with Kurt?" Chris asked teasingly._

_This woke Stephanie up somewhat, "There's nothing going on with me and Kurt."_

"_Are you sure?" he asked. "Every time I see that guy, you're usually nearby, so either you like him, or he likes you, or you like each other, so what's up there?"_

"_He's nice, and we're going to be working together," she told him. "I like him. He's funny, he's really funny, and I just…I like him. I don't know how else to say it other than I like him."_

"_Has he asked you out?"_

"_No."_

"_Have you asked him out?"_

"_No."_

"_Why not?"_

"_Because…because he should ask me out if that's what he wants to do," she said, lifting her butt and pulling her own panties on as Chris grabbed her pajama pants and put them on. She pulled those up too, just leaving her topless and lying there. "I don't know that he's someone I'd want to break the rules for and if I ask him out, I'm pretty much throwing myself into that court."_

"_Oh."_

"_What about you and Trish? I see you hanging out with her a lot."_

"_Did you know she was going to be a doctor? She was in pre-med when she got this call to do a modeling job and that's how she got started and she decided that she was going to quit college. But man, pre-med, talk about intimidating."_

"_So why haven't you asked her out yet?"_

"_One tiny, little problem, she's been with her boyfriend for years, and I'm talking years, like high school. She's been with him for seven years."_

"_Seven years with the same guy? Wow, that's pretty good," Stephanie said. _

"_Yeah, so I'm not going to be penetrating that fortress any time soon," Chris chuckled as he threw Stephanie's tank top into her face. She flipped him off and sat up to put it on as Chris crawled back into bed. "It's cool though, she's nice and all, but I don't know."_

"_Of course you don't."_

"_Anyways, what I wanted to tell you was that I can't share a room with you next week."  
_

"_What?__ Why__?" she asked, looking over at him as they both lay down again. They were lying on their sides facing each other as they talked. They were bathed in the soft light coming from the side table that Chris had turned to the lowest setting in order to search for Stephanie's clothes._

"_Just on Monday, not on Tuesday so much," he told her._

"_Still…I need a reason why. Unless you've found another girl to share expenses with."_

"_Nothing like that, someone just doesn't check the schedule."_

"_I check the schedule."_

"_We're going to be in Winnipeg, my hometown, where I grew up, where I'm from, not where I was born, I was born in New York, but where I spent my formative years until I decided to become a wrestler and started on this crazy journey which has led me straight to you, but yes, we are going to be in Winnipeg and I will be staying with my dad."_

"_But I thought you didn't like spending time with your step-mom."_

"_Well, if I'm in town and I don't stay with my parents, you know, it's rude. I'll just have to deal with Bonnie," he shrugged. "I can do it for a couple of nights, right?__ I get there on Sunday, I spend the night, I spend Monday night there, and then I leave on Tuesday."_

_She laughed, "You're already trying to shorten the time."_

"_Well, then I'm going back there on my days off so I can really spend time with them. My dad wants to take me to a hockey game or something. So I'll be stuck there a little bit, but it's okay, I haven't seen them in a while."_

"_Why don't you stay with your mom__?"_

"_Oh well, she…she doesn't have the room is all."_

"_The couch, couldn't you sleep on her couch?"_

"_She…uh, has a loveseat."_

"_Oh, yeah, that might just be a touch uncomfortable for you," she told him, "You like to stretch out."_

"_Yeah, so that's the story, I can't spend the night with you."_

"I'm so excited you could be here."

"I've seen you wrestle though, honey."

"Never in person!" Chris said as he knelt before his mom. "You're going to love it, I swear. Dean said that he'd watch with you while I'm out there, so you don't have to worry about being by yourself."

"I wouldn't have minded it."

"I know, but you'd just have to sit there and there'd be nobody there, and that's not fun for you."

She smiled at him, "Just getting to be here with you is fun enough for me."

"So you say," he joked as he pushed her closer to his couch so he could sit on it and talk to her. "Tonight I'm going to be going up against Kurt Angle. He's new to the business, but he has a lot of amateur training so he's actually really good."

"Interesting and what will you be doing with him?"

"We're having a tag match, I'm going to be teaming up with Joanie, you know, the girl I've been teaming with and he's going to be teaming up with this guy, Dave. Kurt's the European champion and he's going to be challenging me for my IC title for the next Pay-Per-View, No Way Out. I don't know yet if I'm going to be dropping it to him, but I heard from a reliable source a couple weeks ago that I'm going to be inserted into the main event."

"Wow, I'm so proud of you."

"Thanks," he said happily, always glad whenever he made one of his parents proud of him. They had been so supportive with this whole wrestling venture and it seemed it was really starting to pay off. "So do you want me to show you around? I've got time before my match."

"Sure, if you want."

"Of course I want to, this is the first time you've gotten to come to one of my shows, you don't even know what goes on," he said. "I'll show you all the stuff I have to do before my match and then you can watch my match, but don't freak out if I get pinned or something."

"I won't get freaked out."

"Good," he said, getting up and going behind her wheelchair.

"So you're staying with your father tonight?"

"Yeah," Chris sighed.

"She's not that bad, Chris," Loretta said, referring to Chris's step-mom.

"She wouldn't be if she realized she doesn't have to be my mother. I've got a mother, plus I'm too old to be babied."

"I know, but she hasn't known you for that long, she'll learn," she said as they left the room. He pushed her down the hallway as Chris introduced her to various people. "She just wants you to like her."

"Well, once she figures out that I don't need to be coddled for me to like her, maybe it'll be better. Oh hey, there're my friends Adam and Jay, let me introduce you to them. I met them a while ago while on the indie circuit, but we've become friends when I started here."

"That's good, I'm glad you're making friends."

"I'm likeable, Mom," he joked as he took her over to them, "Hey Adam, Jay, I want you to meet my mom." The two men turned and nodded towards Chris. "Jay, Adam, this is my mom, Loretta, and Mom, this is Jay and this is Adam, they're Edge and Christian."

"I know who they are," Loretta said, turning her head slightly to look at her son, "what, you think I only pay attention to you when I'm watching the shows?"

"So that's where Chris gets it," Adam laughed. "We were wondering if he was just born with the sarcasm or if it was an acquired taste."

"Hey!" Chris said.

"It's really nice to meet you, Loretta, have you been to a show before?" Jay asked.

"Never, which is why I'm happy to finally see what it is that keeps my son from visiting me."

"I think that sentiment is shared by every parent of someone in this business," Adam said. "So what do you have on tap tonight?"

"Tag match, you?"

"Four man tag," Jay answered.

"Rough," Chris said, "well, we're going to be moving along, I've got tons of stuff to show my mom."

"Cool, it was really nice meeting you, Loretta," Adam said, nodding to her.

"Yeah, nice meeting you," Jay added.

"Likewise."

Chris walked on with his mom. "So that's Jay and Adam, they're cool, oh, and I should introduce you to Jeff and Matt, all of us kind of hang out. I hang out with the WCW guys too, but I also hang out with them."

"They're nice, I like them, I approve."

"Thanks, I'm glad I'm in my thirties and you're still approving of my friends."

"You're not in your thirties yet, sweetie."

"I know, but it makes you sound weirder."

"Hey, Chris," Stephanie said as she passed. She knew his presence and didn't even look up from the papers she was perusing through as she kept walking by. She felt Chris's hand curl around her arm and she looked up at him questioningly, not even taking note of his mother right there. His eyes were always capturing most of her attention.

"Hey, Steph, I want to introduce you to my mother."

"Oh, oh yeah, sorry," she said, feeling silly that she had forgotten. "I'd love to."

"You'll have to walk around front, she's not very mobile."

"Huh?" she asked then looked to his left and saw his mother sitting in her wheelchair. "Oh, yeah, of course."

She moved to the front where Chris went with her, careful not to have too much contact with her. He didn't think his mother would appreciate it if he just threw Steph up against a wall and started making out with her frantically, pulling her shirt up around her waist and taking her right there because her touch was so enticing. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves down, which seemed to be standing at attention for the moment.

"This is one of my bosses, Mom, Stephanie McMahon."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you," she said, nodding slightly to the young woman.

"This is my mom, Loretta," Chris said to Stephanie and Stephanie suddenly understood all the talk of his mom feeling like the kid and him not being able to stay with her. It was obvious that his mother was quite limited with her mobility, if she had any at all, and she understood why Chris was so hesitant to talk about her.

"It's really nice to meet you, Loretta," Stephanie said, giving her a wave. "Your son is quite talented."

"I know, I raised him."

Chris blushed a little bit. "He's really cool, you should be very proud of him."

"Her father owns the company. She's like crazy drunk with the power."

"I am not!" she told him. "I barely have any power, when I'm not an on-screen character I'm only an Accounting Executive, it's all very mundane. I really don't have that much influence around here."

"Sure, she does," Chris said. "She just doesn't want to flaunt it."

"Chris!" she told him, giving him a look. "Anyways, I've got tons of work to do, mostly making sure payroll gets out, but it was so nice meeting you, Loretta, you have a very talented and nice son, he's definitely someone to be proud of."

"Thank you," Loretta beamed.

"Bye, Chris."

"Bye, Steph."

Stephanie walked away and Loretta turned to her son, "She's your boss?"

"Kind of."

"Oh, I was going to say, she's really quite young."

"Not _that_ young," he told her. "She's in her early twenties."

"She's pretty though, I've seen her on television, she plays her character quite well, I was half-expecting her to slap you or something."

He chuckled, "Come on, Mom."

Chris showed her around the entire backstage area, introducing her to everyone that he knew. After that he took her back to his locker room to relax and watch the match and not have to feel like she was in the way of everyone, which was something that she felt sometimes since she couldn't move around on her own. They just talked about what had been going on with him and how much better he felt here than he had in WCW and how the backstage was way more professional. He would've been embarrassed to bring his mother backstage to a WCW show with all the chaos that happened there.

There was a knock at the door and Chris called for them to come in and Dean came in, "Hey man, thanks for staying with my mom, I really appreciate it."

"I'm really sorry, Chris, but Vince wants me and Perry to do a vignette at some bar downtown, you know the whole shtick. Anyways, we've got to go now to film it now so they can air it later, I've got to go."

"Damn," Chris said, getting up and going to the door. "Well, if the boss wants it, it's cool, I can ask someone else."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, this is work, go ahead," Chris said. Dean apologized once more before he left.

"Chris, I'll be fine by myself."

"No, I'm not leaving you here alone, that's rude," he said as he looked both ways down the hallway for someone he trusted. She came into view a second later, "Steph!"

"Hello again," she said as she came up to him, "what can I do for you? Wait, aren't you on in like five minutes?"

"Yes, which is why I need to ask a huge favor of you."

"I can't reschedule things," Stephanie said, then lowered her voice, "you know that."

"I know, can you just please sit with my mom while I have my match? Dean was going to sit with her, but he has to go film--"

"Downtown, I know," she nodded.

"Yeah, so I don't want to leave her here all alone. You're not busy, I know you aren't, you just had a promo in the ring that you are finished with and I've got approximately three minutes to get to my match."

"Yeah, go, go, we'll be fine!" she said, pushing him out the door. He thanked her silently with her eyes and she nodded her head before going into his locker room. His mother was sitting next to the couch and the TV was obviously on the show since it was closed-circuit and every TV in the place was on the show. "Hey again."

"Hi, Stephanie, right?"

"Yeah," she said, sitting down. "Chris asked me to sit with you."

"Sometimes he thinks I'm a child."

"Well, it is no fun sitting by yourself watching something, I know," Stephanie said, thinking about how Chris hadn't been in their…her room earlier. Usually they would just sit and watch TV in a comfortable silence, but it had been so boring without him there to make out with if the show got too monotonous.

"That's true."

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask," Stephanie said, "Chris looks like his dad, right?"

"Oh, you saw the dark hair and tried to make the connection."

"Yeah, I mean, you know, blond, blue-eyed."

"I know, when he was younger, people thought I adopted him," Loretta laughed, "Never-mind the fact that I went through vast amounts of pain for the boy."

"He does seem the type to be difficult at a young age."

"He was in some respects, but he was well-mannered. Yes, he looks like his father, if you saw them together, you'd see it."

"I thought so. He's been a really good addition to the show, my father loves him. He likes his type of guy on the microphone, cocky and thinks that they're the best at everything. He's kind of like that for real, but there's a lot of differences between him and his character."

"Are you two friends?" she asked.

"Oh, well…um, I don't know him that well, but I guess you could say that we were friends, more like acquaintances," Stephanie said, even confusing herself. She guessed she could call Chris a friend at this point, but she didn't know too much about him. She didn't even know that his mother was paralyzed.

"You just spoke of him like you knew him."

"Well, I try to be involved in the storylines and stuff like that. My father has just recently started to let me actually have input into the shows. So I kind of like to watch Chris, he's great in the ring. He's got a lot of just different styles that he meshes together. He's great like that."

"I like to think that."

"Well, mothers are like that I think," she said. "And fathers too."

"Yes, very much so. Chris doesn't like his father coming to shows because there was an incident where Ted, my ex-husband got a little too heated during one of Chris's early matches and Chris banned him."

Stephanie laughed, "Seriously? Oh, that's so funny. Wow, see, my father causes scenes all the time, I guess I'm just used to being embarrassed by him."

"Oh, here he is," Loretta said as they both quieted down to watch Chris. Stephanie loved to watch Chris in the ring. He was so fluid with everything that he did. That wasn't only in the ring though. He knew exactly how to get her riled up in bed as well. She shifted in her seat, thinking it was grossly inappropriate for her to be thinking about Chris in this way with his mother sitting right there.

Instead she focused on the technical wrestling in front of her as she kept shifting in her seat. She winced when Chris got hit with the IC title and she could see Loretta wince as well. The match was over soon thereafter and they felt free to talk to each other again. They knew Chris would be showing up in a few minutes, if that; he might just run back here if he could.

"Is that Joanie girl nice?" Loretta asked.

"Yeah, she is," Stephanie said. "When she wants to be I guess, she's tough."

"Does Chris like working with her?"

"He's a good guy, we throw stuff at him and he takes it."

"That's good, I'm glad. He's really happy here."

"I'm glad he likes it here so much, my dad was so happy to nab him from WCW."

"This has been his dream for a very long time. I have drawings he did when he was a child. They're of him with the WWF tag titles and his partner was Owen Hart. This is all he's ever wanted to do."

"Me too. I always wanted to work here with my dad and my mom. Now I am, it's a dream."

Chris walked through the door a second later, wiping his face with a towel. "Hey you guys, did you have fun without me? Of course you didn't, nothing's ever fun without me."

"Very funny," Stephanie said. "We had a good time watching you."

"Awesome," he said as Stephanie stood up, "Going so soon?"

"Yeah, I've got to accompany Paul later and he likes me to sit in on the meetings about how the match is going to go so I know exactly what's going on," she rolled her eyes to tell him she really thought it was so he could be around her more and he laughing silently. "But it was really nice talking with you Loretta, I hope that you can come more often, Chris is much nicer when you're around."

"It was nice talking with you too, Stephanie."

Stephanie walked to the door, which was out of Loretta's eye-line, "I'll see you later, Chris, have a nice evening."

Chris leaned forward and kissed her, "Thank you so much," he whispered to her.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered back.

"Maybe I can sneak out of my dad's house later."

"Because you're 16?"

"No, because you are so sexy right now," he told her.

"I'm going, Chris."

"Bye, Stephanie."

She winked and left.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone, I really love this story and I'm glad that all of you seem to love it too. So hope you enjoy the chapter and reviews are always loved, appreciated and fawned over for hours. ;)

* * *

"_Thanks for being so nice to my mom."_

"_Why shouldn't I have been?" Stephanie asked. She traced nonsensical patterns across his bare chest as they lay there talking. "That's your mom, I'm not rude."_

"_Well, it's just I've had girlfriends that have…either treated her like she was a child or looked at her like she should be put down like a dog or something," he said bitterly. Stephanie reached up and used her index finger to turn his face towards hers. She gave him a kind smile and scrunched her nose the tiniest bit before she leaned over and gave him a kiss to assuage some of his anger._

"_She's your mom, there's no way I would've treated her like anything but your mom," she told him. "Why should I? Because she's in a wheelchair? Please, who gives a shit about that?"_

"_You're pretty awesome, you know."_

"_Of course I know," she told him, sticking her tongue out a little bit in her coyness. Chris just laughed and turned his whole body so it was facing her. "Your mom is really nice though, and I can definitely see where you get the whole wittiness, smart-alecky thing that you've got going on."_

"_Everyone picks up on that, I never realized that I was like her."_

"_You're definitely your mother's son," she said. "She's really very nice though, I enjoyed talking with her, she told me that you used to draw sketches of yourself as a wrestler when you were younger."_

"_Oh Mom," Chris sighed, his ears burning just a little bit. "This is all I've ever wanted to do."_

"_I think that's quite endearing," she said. "That was the first time she's ever gotten to go to a show though, right?"_

"_Yeah, you remembered," Chris said, beaming that she had remembered him telling her about that. "She hasn't been…able to come before, and so yeah, this was the first time she's ever gotten to be here live when I was wrestling. I really wanted her to be out in the audience, but she can't be out there alone. She'd probably need a nurse with her. You definitely can't sit out _there _with her."_

"_Yeah, probably not," Stephanie laughed. "Did she enjoy herself?"_

"_She did," he confirmed. "I was really happy about that. I really wanted her to enjoy her time here. She's just never gotten to see me in my element. She really liked you though and she wanted to say thanks to you again, but you had disappeared."_

"_The perils of being on-screen and backstage," she told him. _

"_Yeah, she wanted us to take you out to dinner to just say thanks, you know, because you really didn't have to sit with her. I wish I would've found you. It would've been my way of saying thanks too."_

"_You don't have to say thanks, we're…well, your mom asked if we were friends and you know, maybe we are…friends, you know, I mean, I didn't really know all that much about you, not really, I didn't even know your mom was paralyzed."_

"_Well, I never told you. I don't know, people just automatically play the, 'I'm _so_ sorry' card, and I'm a little sick and tired of it."_

"_I can definitely see that, I get the 'I'm so sorry that man is your father' card," she joked, trying to ease the tension. She could feel that Chris was uncomfortable talking about this and she didn't want him to get all depressed on her. She wouldn't know how to handle it if Chris started acting that way. That wasn't the kind of guy that he was around her. Around her, he was zany and happy and she liked being around that Chris._

_Chris laughed, "Yeah, I think I'm partially one of those people."_

"_See. They're everywhere."_

"_Yeah, poor you," Chris said. "I guess I'm just not real…I just don't like to be pitied, and I feel like people pity me because of my mom and I hate that. I really hate that."_

"_I don't pity you, she's a really nice woman," Stephanie said. "I can definitely see her raising someone like you."_

"_She wasn't always like that, you know," Chris said. "I mean, obviously right, she wouldn't have been able to have me if she had always been like that. It was an accident, a serious freak accident."_

"_Oh," she said, not pushing to know. If he wanted to tell her, he would tell her in his own time._

"_Yeah, it was just…I don't want to talk about it," he told her. She scooted herself closer to him and wrapped her arm around his waist, feeling how rigid his body was from thinking about it. She would say nothing further about it; she didn't want this Chris to linger around._

"_You're welcome for talking with her."_

"Kurt!" Stephanie squealed as Kurt tickled her. She pulled away from him. "You're nuts, let go of me!"

"Nah," he said, continuing to tickle her.

She pushed away again, "Okay, stop, stop, stop…so what's this about my father putting the storyline between us on hold?"

"He said that he just wants to kind of play this Mick thing out to the finish and then we can segue into the storyline with you and me, and that other guy, what's-his-face?"

"You know what's his face," Stephanie said. "I think another reason that my father is stalling is because Paul isn't too happy about the entire thing. He thinks that he and I make this perfect evil couple and while I agree to an extent, I think that growth and developing is a good idea."

"Well, your father was planning to let you team up with me and leave Triple H."

"Yeah, that's the stickler point, but whatever, we'll figure it out so who are you actually feuding with right now, or will be feuding with."

"I'm going into a program with Chris, remember, because we've faced each other."

"Wait, that's going into a long-term thing?"

"Your dad said at least until June," Kurt shrugged. "That should be fun though. Chris seems like a good guy, is he a good guy? We haven't really interacted and I heard that you two were friends."

"Yeah, but we're not close friends or anything," she told him. "He's a good guy. So a long-term feud with him?"

"Yeah, long-term. Though I would gladly trade in this feud with him if I could have something going on with you," he said suggestively. Stephanie could tell that he was talking about way more than their characters right now. She didn't much have a problem with that though. She was actually quite pleased. She really liked Kurt. Their personalities meshed so well together.

"Would you?" she wondered.

"Wouldn't you?" he asked.

"Well, I don't think I'd have much complaints about it, I'll tell you that," she told him. "I think I would really like doing a storyline with you, especially the one that's sitting on the table. It might be interesting if you were to try and steal me away from my husband but not have me know."

"I think it would too," he told her, leaning in a little closer so their breaths could mingle together in a sweet fog between the two of them. "I would really like to get to know you better. You're really different from the other chicks around here."

"I get that a lot," she told him, giving him a small smile.

"Well, you should, you're really unique. You're a mystery to everyone. I've asked around about you and not many people knew very much about you. Why is that, Miss McMahon?"

"I'm just not very social I suppose," she said sweetly, "but I tend to make exceptions for exceptions for people that I really, really like."

"Who do you really, really like? How would one get on that list, you know, asking for a friend of course."

"Oh, of course," she nodded slyly. "I guess your _friend_ would just have to be a really sweet guy, who likes the same things that I do and has good looks to boot, but which friend are you talking about here, I'd like to get a read on this guy before I really let myself make an exception for him."

If Kurt was going to ask her out right now, she would jump at the chance. She had been wanting him to ask her out for a few weeks now and she was starting to think it wasn't going to happen. She wanted him to ask her on a date and she couldn't think of more clues to drop to him than she was giving him. She was definitely willing to make the exception for him. Whereas the date with Paul had been kind of a pity thing, this wouldn't be. She really enjoyed spending time with Kurt at the shows and she figured that would translate well to outside the office as well.

"Really?"

"Oh yes, definitely," she told him.

"Well, if that's the case, I really think my friend would like to ask you out to dinner tonight."

"I would really like that."

"Yeah, you sure?"

"I wouldn't have said yes if I wasn't really sure," she told him sweetly, the corners of her lips turning up into a small smile. He nodded a couple of times, weighing her words in his head. She thought it was cute that she had rendered him speechless. Her father happened to be walking by in these moments and he looked at the proximity of his daughter and Kurt. Stephanie was too engrossed in Kurt to notice and just as her father walked by, he heard her say, "Then it's a date."

"It's a date," Kurt said, lifting his head to look at her with his blue eyes.

"Great, it's a date," she told him.

"Kurt!"

Kurt and Stephanie looked to the side and saw Chris coming over. Unconsciously, Stephanie started to grin. Chris came over and gave Stephanie a slight nod and she smiled all the way up to her eyes. "What's up, man?" Kurt asked.

"We needed to discuss our tag match later, just some layouts for it. If you're not busy. Are you busy?"

"Nah, I was just talking to Stephanie," Kurt said. "So I'll come get you after your last segment then, and we'll find some place to eat."

"Yeah, I'm not picky, we could go to Denny's and I wouldn't care," she told him. She bit her lip as she looked at Kurt and then she looked at Chris who was smirking and she blushed a little bit.

"Oh, hey, I forgot," Chris said. "I ran into your dad as I was coming to find Kurt and he wanted to talk to you about something and he said to go see him as soon as you can."

"Thanks," she told him. "I'll go see him now."

Chris and Kurt started to walk away and Chris shoved his hands into his pockets, "So you and Stephanie are going out on a date tonight?"

"Yeah, I can't believe she said yes though, she seems a little bit on the frigid side, you know what I mean," Kurt said. Chris had no idea what he meant. He had slept with Stephanie within hours of meeting her and she was by no means what he'd call frigid.

"Um, yeah, I guess," Chris said.

"Just like, one of those girls whose walls you have to break down, hey, kind of like your theme, right?" Kurt joked and Chris resisted the urge to laugh at the sheer lameness of that joke.

"Yeah, I guess," he said. "She's nice though."

"Oh, I want to find out how nice she is."

Chris sucked at his teeth a little, but didn't say anything, "Come on, let's go find our tag partners."

Stephanie pushed open the door to her father's office. Vince looked up, anger written all over his face that someone would dare open his door. When he saw it was his daughter, however, his face softened considerably and he gestured for her to sit down as he set his papers down. Stephanie smiled innocently at him as she sat down and wondered what he wanted her for this time.

"I overheard you and Kurt earlier as I was walking by," Vince started.

"Oh, okay," Stephanie said.

"A date?"

"Oh, well, you know, he asked, and he's really nice and I like him, and I think that he likes me too."

"You know your mother and I have never discouraged you from dating a wrestler. We would rather you not, but we've never outright told you that you couldn't date a wrestler."

"Yes, Dad, I know. You and Mom have both told me about the business and everything that goes along with it. You've warned me about the dangers and how infidelity runs high and I know this. I came into the company not wanting to date a wrestler, but it's hard not to find myself attracted to people here when they're here. It's hard to sustain a relationship when you will never see this person because they don't work here. Plus I know all about people using me and whatever. I like Kurt, Dad, I would like to go out with him."

"Stephanie…" Vince sighed and looked at his little girl. She did look so hopeful and it bugged him. At first he was apathetic, but now he was just downright perturbed that he would have to deliver this news.

"Dad, you cannot tell me who I can and cannot date."

"I'm not telling you who you can and can't date, Stephanie," Vince told her gently. "Princess, Kurt is married."

"What?" Stephanie asked, thinking she had heard her father wrong. She had to have heard her father wrong. "Married?"

"Yes, he's married, I met his wife when he signed, her name is Karen. They've been married for a couple of years now. I'm sorry, honey, I know that you probably didn't know."

"No, I didn't know, wow," Stephanie said. "So he probably was using me."

"Yes," Vince said. "I'm sorry."

"No, thank you for telling me, Dad," Stephanie said, composing herself. "I'm glad I found out now. We'd never been out before, he just asked me tonight, well, that makes me feel really stupid."

"You're not stupid."

"Whatever."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm just going to cancel the date and not speak of it, I'm not going to make a scene over this, what good would it do to humiliate myself and him in front of everyone?" she said, trying to keep her anger at bay.

"That's my girl."

"I have to go, Dad, I've got a lot to do."

"Okay, are you sure you're okay, Stephanie?"

"I'm fine, Dad," Stephanie said.

Stephanie left the office and took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she had been had like that. She had never seen it coming. She should've seen it coming though. She wasn't stupid; she should've been able to figure him out. He was just using her. She was the one that had suggested that Kurt be inserted into a major storyline. He was already getting what he wanted because of her and it made her sick to her stomach. How could she have been so stupid?

Chris and Kurt were talking with Dwayne and Paul Wight about their tag match coming up later that evening. Stephanie walked up to them and tapped Kurt on the shoulder. He turned and saw her, giving her a smile that only conveyed lies to her. "Stephanie, hey, what's up?"

"I just wanted to tell you that I couldn't go out with you later, something came up that I have to attend to," Stephanie said.

"Oh, um, so do you want to reschedule then?"

"No, thanks," she told him politely before turning on her heel and leaving abruptly.

Kurt turned to the other three guys and looked at them, "I wonder what the hell that was about? I'll talk to her later. Let's talk about the finish."

Chris was somewhat distracted though. Stephanie had seemed normal on the outside, but it was like she was holding something back. He didn't know enough about her to read her, but that was just the impression that he got. He only half-listened to the rest of the conversation, nodding where appropriate, but he was thinking about Stephanie. From their conversations, she really seemed to like Kurt and had been waiting for him to ask her out. Now she gets what she wants and she throws it back with no explanation? It didn't make sense.

He would've investigated further, but he had to get ready for his match, which was the last of the evening. He didn't see her for the rest of the night, but by that time had forgotten anything was wrong. He took his shower and got dressed to go back to his hotel room and catch a good night's sleep. Tomorrow was a going home day so he was happy to be hitting what essentially was his weekend. By the time he was done, most of the wrestlers had gone home and he got into his car and drove back to the hotel. He went upstairs and his intentions were to crash on his bed and fall asleep.

He walked inside and saw Stephanie sitting, already in her pajamas watching TV. His eyebrows knitted together as he looked at her, "I thought you weren't going to be here."

"Why?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Because you told Kurt that something came up, and I figured to break off a date with him, something big would've had to have come up."

"Oh."

"Is something wrong? You were so excited about the prospect of Kurt asking you out. I thought that it was something that you really wanted. You guys have been joined at the hip it seems."

"It's nothing," she said.

"Well, now I know it's something," Chris said as he dropped his bag where he stood and went over and sat next to her on the couch. He went to touch her shoulder, but she flinched. This was just starting to get weird now. "What's the matter?"

"Chris, I'm fine, please, I just want to watch this show and get to bed."

"You were so excited though, this doesn't make any sense."

She and Chris didn't discuss things like that. She didn't want to talk to him about it. Plus, he was a wrestler, the enemy as of right now. What the hell was she thinking, thinking about breaking the rules with Kurt Angle of all people? Nobody was worth her time in the whole fucking company. She wished she could just go back to Connecticut and work at Titan like a normal human being. She couldn't just not be on television in the middle of a big angle though, and she cursed her being an on-screen character.

"It's not a big deal," she said. "Just go to bed." He went to touch her again and she pulled back. "Don't touch me."

"Okay, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you. Look, I may not be your good friend, I may just be the guy that shares a room with you, but a guy can be genuinely concerned for someone when they look hurt, okay? I was offering you an ear, that's all, but fine, you don't want it, fine, I'm going to bed."

Chris stood up angrily. He had put himself out there for her. They weren't friends, not really, but he had been willing to let her vent about this, but if she didn't want to, fine, it was no skin off his back. "He's married."

Chris stopped in the doorway. "Excuse me?"

"Kurt's married," she said with a slight scoff like she couldn't believe that she really hadn't seen it. "He's married, has been for a couple of years and he's been hitting on me for weeks now and I've just let him, I've let myself like him and he's been fucking married the entire time."

"Oh, Steph," Chris said, coming over and sitting next to her. "I didn't even know, if I had known, you know I would've told you."

"I know," she said, shaking her head. "I can't believe I was so stupid. I just let myself fall for him, and I would've just gone out tonight and had a great time I'm sure and I probably would've let him kiss me or something and then he goes back to his room and calls his wife telling her that he'll be home tomorrow, what if he has _kids_?"

"Well, I don't know," Chris said. "But you didn't do anything with him, I mean, I know you didn't sleep with him, because well, you know, and you didn't kiss him, because then you guys would've been semi-going out and you would've ended this arrangement, so don't feel too bad."

"I just got so duped and I feel so dumb about it…do you have a wife, Chris? Are you secretly married and I'm just some cheating slut helping a husband cheat on his wife?" she asked pathetically.

"Stephanie, come on," he told her, "my mom _so _would've told you if I had a wife or not."

Stephanie laughed at that, "I feel so stupid. I was maybe going to break the rules for this guy. I mean, I thought he was sweet and not some cheating scumbag. He just wanted to use me for whatever…power, positioning."

"I could punch him right about now," Chris said. He didn't like seeing Stephanie upset. "You were right about the rules."

"I know, right," she laughed and then hugged him, "I believed him, I'm so dumb."

"You're not dumb, you're anything but dumb," he told her, pulling her into his lap. "You are so smart, and you're so beautiful, and you shouldn't take what Kurt did into account. There's someone out there who's going to see you for the beautiful, smart, funny, cute woman that you are. If it's a wrestler, great, if it isn't, great. You'll meet someone who is going to like you…and your cute underwear too."

"You're the best," she said, hugging him tightly. "Maybe just…stiff him in the ring for me?"

"Oh hell yeah I'm going to stiff him in the ring for you, that asshole isn't going to know what's coming to him. Thinks he can treat you like that. You're too good for him anyways. You're probably too good for everyone in the entire damn company though," he said, pulling away so he could look her in the face. "Most girls, this would have them bawling, but not you, you've got everything under control."

"I do not, I'm a mess."

"No, you're not," he told her, pushing her hair out of her face. "So you haven't eaten, have you?"

"No, I haven't eaten."

"You want to get room service or you want to go out?"

"I want to get room service. I want an ice cream sundae with extra fudge."

"Pig," he told her good-naturedly.

"So I'm really not stupid?"

"Never."

"You're just saying that because you want to have sex with me later," she told him with a pout.

"No, I'm saying that because I know that it's true."

"How do you know?"

"Sometimes things just come to you."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Are you all frustrated yet? I hope not too frustrated. Thank you for the reviews for this one, I'm really happy you're all liking it, I definitely love writing these two oblivious fools. Hope you enjoy the chapter and if you want to leave a review, I wouldn't stop you. ;)

* * *

"Hey, Steph, wait up."

Stephanie frowned, but turned around, "What is it, Kurt? I'm kind of busy so if this isn't important, I'm going to have to keep walking."

"It is important," he said, touching her on the arm. She pulled away from his touch, actually, recoiled from his touch would've been a better word to describe her actions. He looked confused at her response.

"Fine, then go ahead," Stephanie said, folding her arms in front of her and looking at him.

"Well, I asked you out last Thursday and you said yes, but then that you had to cancel just out of the blue, and now you're acting like you've never even met me, and I'm just wondering what happened last week. I thought that we were having fun and all of a sudden you turn into the Ice Queen on me."

"Oh really, is that what you think that I did?" she asked coldly. "I just all of a sudden turned on you?"

"Yeah, that's what it felt like. I mean, I asked you out, you said yes and I think that you were excited, you acted excited at the very least and then a little while later you cancel on me, and that's that? I just would like an explanation or something. Did you want to go out again because I really do like you and I would love to take you out to dinner?"

"No thanks," she told him. "You should probably just stop asking me because the answer isn't going to change."

"What the hell happened?" Kurt asked. "I mean, I know that you're kind of against dating wrestlers, or at least that's what I've heard, but I really just like you and would like to take you out. You seemed so happy when I asked you."

"Okay, then answer me this, Kurt," she said, looking him dead in the eye, "What does your _wife_ think of the two of us going out on a date? Does she approve of it? I'd love to ask her."

Kurt visibly blanched, and then managed to stutter out, "Oh, Steph…I mean, like, um, where, who told you that?"

"My father, so are you going to call him a liar or something now?" she wondered.

"We're uh…we're separated," he told her.

"Oh really, you do know that my father owns the company, right? So if I were to ask him to get me your home phone number, I could very easily get that number and then call your house and ask your wife if she knows about a separation."

"Okay, so I'm married."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"Do you know how lonely it gets on the road sometimes?"

"I don't give a shit about how hard it is. I _know_ how hard it is, okay. I haven't even had a relationship since I've been on the road. I've been on one date that I didn't even want to be on. It's hard, I get it, but that gives you no right to make me an accessory to your adultery. If you want to cheat on your wife, fine, do it, but I'm having no part of it," she said, knowing that people were watching her and she was airing Kurt's dirty laundry all over the place. It gave her a smug sense of satisfaction. He deserved it after leading her on for so long.

"Steph, it was never like that."

"Don't call me Steph," she snapped at him. "And if it wasn't like that, what was it? What was all the flirting and the suggestive tones and all of that, and asking me out on a date, huh, what was that?"

"I just…"

"Yeah, you have no answer, no reason for it," Stephanie said, her voice laced with bounding rage. "As far as I'm concerned, from now on, the only relationship that we're going to have is a professional one and that's only because my father likes the long-term plans. If I had any control over creative, you bet your ass you'd be out of my storyline!"

"I'm sorry, Stephanie, I didn't know, I just didn't…"

"Oh give it up," Stephanie said, fuming now.

Vince walked up after seeing a crowd of people gathered and then he heard his daughter yelling so he pushed his way through the small crowd to step next to his daughter, "What's going on here?"

"I'm just telling Kurt that our relationship is and always will be strictly professional," Stephanie said.

"Okay, are you through?" Vince asked gently.

"Yes."

"Then let's go," he said, hooking his hand around his daughter's arm. They walked away from the dissipating crowd and he turned to his daughter, "What was that really all about?"

"He asked me out on a date, Dad, and he's been flirting with me and he's been married the entire time and it sickens me, the entire things sickens me. I saw how Mom was when you…when you cheated on her," Stephanie said quietly, causing Vince to look down in shame. "I never want to be that other woman and he was trying to make me into one without me knowing and it made me feel used. I never wanted to date a wrestler, I never want to, I don't want to live this life with someone and it's frustrating when I get used like that."

"I know, Princess," he said to her, trying to be gentle and mindful of her state of mind. "You'll find someone great who isn't using you for anything."

"I just hate the fact that because I'm a McMahon I constantly have to make sure that someone likes me for me and not for the money that we have. It's not fair, I mean, I'm happy that I don't have to worry about money, but it's not fair that I can never fully trust anyone."

"You will, you'll trust someone, I promise you that. I trust your mother with my life."

"Yeah, I know," she said. "I'm just going to go concentrate on what I'm doing tonight."

"Good girl," Vince said affectionately and gave Stephanie a light hug. She returned it and then went to her locker room, sitting on the sofa and going over the script for tonight. She was getting better at adlibbing things and the writers were starting to give her a little more freedom with what she said, but she still liked to practice what she was going to say.

The door pushed open and she figured it was Paul to come bug her again and probably offer to be a shoulder to cry on. Instead, it was Chris and she smiled at him before he closed the door. She went back to her script, but felt him sit next to her a moment later. He looked over her shoulder at what she was looking at and nodded in what seemed like approval.

"So, I heard that you were pretty kickass a little while ago?"

She groaned, "It's already making the rounds?"

"Well, you know how wrestlers are natural gossips. Everyone is just kind of talking about how you chewed out Kurt for wanting to date you while being married, which…totally goes with the kickass comment."

"It was not a kickass moment," she told him. "It was horrible. I just…I don't even want to look at him again. I can't believe I even liked him for a second let alone as long as I did. Weeks I spent wasted on that jerk. I can't believe I let myself fall for it."

"Well, you couldn't have known."

"But I should've known he was a weasel," she said, silently berating herself. "I'm better than that. I like to think that I'm good at reading people, but I failed miserably with this one."

"It's one person, Steph, and you found out before it happened. It wasn't like you were sleeping with the guy since I know what guy you're currently rooming with," he said. "I just thought it was funny that everyone's kind of ribbing him and teasing him about it, some more meanly than others…yours truly."

"Chris…"

"Nah, I'm just going to tell him off later."

"Don't…"

"No, I can, it's part of my job, that's what's in the script tonight. I'm supposed to go out during Kurt's match and insult him, call him names and throw him back in the ring, so I can call him exactly what I think of him."

"Well, good then, add a little extra zing for me."

"Oh, I will…which brings me to why I really came here."

"There was a reason?"

"Well, aside from the urge I have to rip your clothes off," he leered at her. She rolled her eyes at him. "I just wanted to say that I wasn't going to be back to our room until late tonight, probably not too late, but I don't want you wondering where I'm going to be."

"Oh, okay," she told him. "I'll leave the light on for you, figuratively speaking. I don't want to sleep with the lights on."

"Cool, I'll see you later," he told her, winking at her as he left the room without another word. She got up and walked out of her locker room. She was on the first segment of the evening and she wanted to meet up with Paul to make sure that they both knew what they were doing. She ran into Trish and stopped to say hello.

"Hey, you're like, totally a legend now," Trish said. "Standing up to Kurt like that, epic."

"It was nothing, he was just bugging me, that's all."

"Whatever, anyways, as a show of good faith to me coming and joining the show, a few of the girls are going to go out for drinks and maybe some food, was wondering if you wanted to come. From what I've heard, you kind of keep to yourself, but you should come."

"I don't know."

"Do you have plans tonight?"

"No…"

"Were you just going to go to your hotel room and go to bed?"

"That was the plan, yes."

"Well, I'm not letting you. You're pretty new around here, fairly new anyways. So you should come and get to know people."

"Well…"

"I'm not going to leave you alone until you say yes."

"Fine, fine, fine, but we're not…going to some dive or something, right? I'm not a fan of those. You always get weird, drunk guys leering over you."

"No, this place is nicer, or at least that's what Amy tells me," Trish said. "She said that she heard it was nice, you know, it's part of a restaurant, so it's not a dump. You can probably wear what you're wearing."

"These are my character clothes."

"But they look nice, you can get away with wearing them out."

She supposed to could, she thought as she looked down at her blouse and short mini-skirt, but not as mini as the one Trish was wearing right now. "Yeah, sure, I guess I can go."

"Awesome," Trish said, "we'll meet up after the show is over. Okay?"

"Okay," Stephanie said.

Going out with people after the show took her mind off of Kurt, and that was a welcome blessing. It was true that she didn't really know anyone in the company. It wasn't necessarily by design, but the other wrestlers just saw her as a McMahon and not really as just another employee who was going out there and trying to do their best. People would always greet her politely like she was just about to go running to daddy and tattle on everyone for any misdoing they were committing. Maybe going out with the divas would make her more accepted. That might be a good change from the monotony.

The bar they went to was attached to a rather nice restaurant, but by the time they got their, the bar was running over everything and spilling out into the restaurant area. That was okay since dinner service was winding down. The bar would stay open until 2:30am so they had plenty of time to relax and unwind after the show. They lights were darker near the bar and there was a dancing area if you felt so inclined. It was pretty packed right now and it was only a Thursday night, but it seemed a lot of people had a short week. They were also near a college though, so that probably attracted a lot of people on a Thursday.

"Isn't this fun!" Amy shouted at Stephanie over the music.

Stephanie stirred her martini, watching the plump green olive create a mini tornado in her glass. "Yeah, this is actually pretty fun, nice place."

"Yeah, I know," Amy said as some guy came up behind her and asked her to dance. She nodded and then smiled at Stephanie before being led away to the dance floor. Stephanie laughed and leaned against the bar, sipping at her drink, shuddering a tiny bit as the bitter alcohol slid down her throat.

"Hey, you want to dance?"

She looked behind her and the guy was cute enough, tall, dark, handsome, if you liked that sort of thing. "Oh, um, excuse me?"

"Dance, you want to dance?" he asked.

"No thanks," she told him. "I'm not in a dancing mood."

"That's too bad, you look like you could really show everyone up out there."

"Wow, you obviously don't know me," she said with a laugh. "I've got a bad knee so going out on the dance floor is potentially dangerous for me. It tends to give out every now and then."

"Oh," he said, understanding why she wouldn't want to get bumped by many people. "I get it."

"Yeah, so I'd rather just stay on the sidelines."

"Smart," he told her. She nodded politely and looked over his shoulder at the people finishing up their late meals and recognized the blond hair that she was seeing in front of her.

"Hey, sorry, but I see someone I know over there and I'm going to say hi."

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said, disappointed that she was leaving him just like that.

Stephanie took a few steps further and saw that Chris wasn't alone. She was taken aback to see that he was sitting and talking with Jessica. She didn't know that he was going to see Jessica tonight. Of course, she never asked, not that she cared, she was just surprised that they appeared to be together. Maybe they were _back_ together. That was strange, Chris would've told her something like that right? He wouldn't just let her continue having sex with him if he had a girlfriend.

Unless Chris was playing her too. That made her sick to her stomach, the alcohol creeping up on her like a leer jet. She felt like she was just going to be sick right then. What if Chris was just like Kurt? She wouldn't be able to handle that. She stumbled backwards a little bit, crashing into a couple people which started a chain reaction of sorts until it went all the way to a waitress who dropped a couple of glasses. People from all over the place were looking in that direction, including Chris and Jessica. Chris spotted her immediately, not even needing bright lights to spot her since he was accustomed to seeing her in dim light.

He smiled and got up to walk over to her, but she was already disappearing through the crowd. Confused, he went after her, following her long hair as it flew behind her as she tried to escape. She finally made it outside and took a couple of deep breaths. There was no way that he could've caught her since she circled the place at least three times. She would just wait out here until she thought it was safe, then she'd go back inside and tell the girls she was sick and was going to leave. She couldn't just leave without telling them since she didn't want them to worry.

She waited outside for at least another thirty uninterrupted seconds before Chris came outside. He saw her and was relieved. He walked over to her, but she spotted him and she kept walking. "Steph, wait up, what is the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with me?" she hissed, turning to him. "What's the matter with _you_? You never broke up with Jessica, did you? You've been with her the whole time and you're just using me too!"

"No, God, Stephanie, it's not like that at all," Chris said. "You can even go in and ask her."

"Leave me alone, Chris, I don't want to hear it. You knew how upset I was about Kurt and I didn't even sleep with him," she said with a low whisper. "Our one arrangement in this entire thing was that if we were in a relationship with someone else, we call it off!"

"Steph, I'm not in a relationship with her, trust me," Chris said. "Look, remember how I told you that I broke up with her because the urge to be with you was too strong?"

"What about it? You decided that you could get it twice as much if you went back to her?"

"No, she lives here in Minneapolis, and when I broke up with her, it was kind of…it was kind of over the phone."

"You broke up with her over the phone?"

"Yes."

"But you guys went out for a while, months."

"I know, which is why I wanted to see her. I felt badly about how I had ended things and I just wanted to offer her a better break-up or something like that. I wanted to make sure she knew that it wasn't her fault. That's it. I didn't think I needed to tell you these things since we're not dating or anything. I probably would've mentioned it later before bed or something, but yeah, I didn't think you needed to know. I honestly didn't think you'd be here…what _are_ you doing here?"

"I came with some of the divas," she said. "Trish knew I was going to be alone tonight and so she invited me out. Said I needed to get to know my coworkers better and I couldn't disagree so I came along."

"Oh," he said. "Makes sense."

"Yeah," she said. "Sorry I jumped to conclusions. I guess the Kurt thing has me a little more shook up than I thought."

"Yeah, don't even worry about it. I didn't exactly help," he said. "If I was going to date someone, I'd tell you first."

"You would," she affirmed. "And I'd do the same. Some guy was asking me to dance actually, but with my bum knee…"

"You should request a slow dance and then find the guy. You're pretty assured that he's not part of the wrestling business so you're home free," he said as they started walking towards the entrance.

She bumped her hip against his. "Yeah, just my luck he knows who I am and is just using me for the money."

"You think too much, just go have fun."

"You're coming to the room tonight, right?"

"Of course, that's where I sleep."

"Then I'll have fun tonight."


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, this is really one of my favorite stories to write so I'm really happy when other people like it too, despite the obvious frustration with the two of them. Anyways, hope you enjoy the chapter and if you read any of my other stories, or all of them, just letting you know that I've decided that since it's summer and everything, I'm going to start updating whenever I feel like it, so watch out for new updates. Enjoy. :)

* * *

"_So I know that you've been having difficulties with Kurt lately so I think I'm going to hold off on that storyline for a later date, when he gets it through his head that you are not to be used."_

"_Thanks, Dad," Stephanie said. "I think I would've felt uncomfortable with him right now if I was forced to interact with him on a regular basis."_

"_Yes, I agree. Anyways, we need a short-term feud for Paul, and by short-term, I'm thinking that it'll span a few months, anyways, I've decided to give that spot to Chris Irvine. We'll start it off slow, finish off this feud Paul has with Dwayne, then we'll really get into it."_

"_Chris Irvine?" she asked, her brain kind of stopping on his name and not focusing so much on anything her father said afterwards._

"_Yes, I think this is just the thing to really get him into the main event," Vince said. "It'll be good to get him in a high profile feud."_

"_Um, what kind of storyline did you have in mind?" Stephanie asked. She had only ever interacted with Chris on-screen once and there had been a few other people in the ring so it wasn't like they were alone. She didn't know how she'd react to doing a storyline with him, and God forbid he give them a romantic one. They had a hard enough time keeping their hands off each other as it was. _

"_Well, he insulted you last time, when you made him and Joanie the co-IC champs, so I'm thinking that he hates you, and he's not afraid to show it."_

"_So he'd be fighting over me?"_

"_No, not over you, Paul would be…defending your honor if you will."_

"_Oh."_

"_And Chris will insult you every chance he gets."_

"_Oh, well…that sounds…interesting," Stephanie said slowly. She and Chris had been sleeping together for almost five months now and they had never really mixed work with whatever they were doing together. She had an uneasy feeling about all of this._

"_It is, it'll be great. Chris has that nasty attitude that the fans love in spite of that and I think it'll give me a good idea of how far I can stretch him."_

"_Yeah, sounds…it sounds good, Dad, really," Stephanie said with a nod, but she wasn't so convinced. When she was around Chris, a good amount of time was spent naked, so working closely with him had a lot of scary potential to it. "I'll let him know."_

"_Good, we'll start brainstorming immediately and we'll hold a meeting with you two and with Paul to iron out the details some more since I anticipate this to be one of the more high-profile feuds."_

"_I'm sure Chris will love to hear that."_

"_Good. It'll give him the motivation to make this a great feud."_

"_Yeah, definitely," Stephanie said, standing up and going off to find Chris. She went to his locker room first, the most logical place for him to be and it turned out that he was there. She walked inside, Chris giving her a cordial look before going back to tape his wrists. "So I have news."_

"_You got a date finally!" he exclaimed._

"_Oh, ha, ha," she deadpanned. "No…"_

"_Oh, that's too bad, it'll happen one day, Stephanie, I'm sure it will. Some guy is just going to come riding in on his white horse and he's going to take you in his arms, kiss you, and then you'll both ride off into the sunset," he said in a high-pitched voice, putting his hands over his heart._

"_Shove it up your ass," Stephanie said. "What I am here for is something that's going to make you very happy."_

"_Okay, so take off your clothes already."_

"_Again, shove it up your ass," she said. "My dad is putting you in a main event feud."_

"_What?" he asked, truly shocked by what she had just said._

"_My dad wants to put you in a huge feud against Paul."_

"_Paul? You mean, Paul, your Paul?"_

"_He is definitely not _my_ Paul."_

"_You know what I meant."_

"_Yeah, that Paul. He's dropping the title to Dwayne at the end of the month and then we're going to put you two in a short-term program, for a few months. My dad doesn't want me to have to work that closely with Kurt, so he switched things up and you're getting the benefit of that."_

"_Wow, that's pretty awesome. Wow…"_

"_Yeah, I know, and you're going to be working with me too, insulting me, calling me names and all of that stuff," she said uncomfortably. "So you know, it's a great opportunity."  
_

"_It really is, thanks for the good news."_

"_You're welcome."_

"So this is where I live," Stephanie said, opening the door to her townhouse. She lived by herself so she didn't need much space. It was nicely decorated, very tasteful, but still very much Stephanie.

"It's nice," he said, "I would've figured you lived in a house though."

"Really, why did you think that?"

"Cause you're rich I guess. I just figured that you would want to live in some big, fancy place," he shrugged. "I guess I had that all wrong, huh?"

"Yeah, you did. I don't need a lot of space, not to mention I don't spend a lot of time here anyways. Three days a week, if that. So I just got a place that fit that kind of lifestyle, why, do you have a house?"

"I do," he said. "I've had it since WCW, I was tired of living in shitty apartments all the time so I got myself a house. It's nice."

"But you live alone."

"Did you not hear that part about shitty apartments? I wanted something big, just to offset all of those, so I bought a house, it's not huge, but it's enough."

"Okay, I wasn't judging," she told him. "So put your stuff down wherever, and make yourself comfortable, I guess."

"Thanks for letting me stay here."

"We have a show in Stamford tomorrow night and it's a waste for you to get a room when I have room here, and we share a room anyways, so I have even more space because you aren't in the spare room," she said, making little sense, but neither one cared. She walked into the kitchen and he sat down on the couch.

"So are you going to cook?"

"No, I haven't been to the store, I'll probably cook tomorrow," she said, sticking her head out from the kitchen, "I'm actually a very good cook."

"Interesting," he said. "I don't know if I believe that."

"Oh, is that so?"

"It's so," he told her, picking up a remote and studying it and seeing it was for the DVD player and not the TV. He picked up another and, satisfied with its use, tuned on the TV. Stephanie came out a moment later and dumped a bunch of paper next to him.

"So what do we want for dinner? I know this great Thai place, do you like Thai, I've never really asked, I don't think we've ever really had it before," she said, thinking about it for a moment.

"I do like Thai, so that's cool," he said as she rooted through the various menus to get to the one she liked. She picked it out with a short "aha" and then sat closer to him, putting all the other menus on the coffee table as they perused what they liked. After she went and ordered she came back and lounged on the couch with him.

"So tomorrow is the big night, are you nervous?" Stephanie asked.

"Am I nervous for what?"

"Well, you're going to be in the main event now," she told him. "That's huge, Chris, no more dinky feuds for you, you're in the big time now."

"I'm not nervous. It's going to be fun. This is what I've really wanted and now I get it and how could it be anything but fun."

"It could be pressure-filled."

"Nah, pressure is being in a room full of guys for what you think is a wrestling promotion, but the guy who owns said wrestling promotion really wants you for his own personal boy toy, that's pressure, pressure to get the hell out of there before you become some fat man's love slave."

Stephanie giggled, "I can't believe you've actually had experiences like that. It just…it just seems so crazy."

"Yeah, until you've actually lived it," he said with a shudder. "You just took a different route to get here and good thing for that, I'd hate to have to think of how you might've worked your way up to where you are now."

"You think I would've had to sleep with people?"

"Probably, I'm not saying that you actually would have done it, but it probably would've been something that you might've had to do to gain footing. Plus, with the whole wrestling business, you probably wouldn't have had the rules…"

"And I would've slept around because I would've been stuck around these people."

"Yeah, not that you would've done that either necessarily."

"Who do you know that's slept around with people?" she asked conspiratorially.

"Well, Tammy Lynn Sytch, for one," Chris said. "I actually met her a really long time ago. She wanted to get with me, but um, yeah, I kind of didn't want to."

"You were probably the only guy in the world who didn't want to."

"I have tried not to date female wrestlers. I dated one in ECW and then that was it. I did date one of the Nitro girls, but they're not wrestlers, though I probably shouldn't have slept with that one either."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, "So you're saying you would rather just be a virgin right now?"

"Hell no," he told her, shaking his head and sticking his tongue out a little. "I'm just saying that I should've met you sooner so that I could've known about your rules and I could've done the same thing to save me a lot of grief."

"Cause those girls gave you grief?"

"They didn't help, the chick in ECW, she was a total psycho. She'd call me at all hours of the day just to see if I was alone or if I was with someone. If we were at a show she stuck by my side and wouldn't let me out of her sight. She wanted to be my valet, she wanted to be my partner."

"So what finally happened to her?"

"I just broke up with her and after getting some crazy phone calls, I threatened to call the cops on her and she left me alone."

Stephanie laughed, "I have no great stories."

"You don't want a stalker story, trust me," he said. "Trust me."

"Okay, fine," she said. "I'm going to go pick up the food since you don't know where it is."

"Okay, you want me to come with?"

"No, I'm good, you just stay here," she said as she stood up and grabbed her car keys and headed down the stairs to her front door. Chris stayed behind and watched TV for a few moments before he stood up and walked to a shelf that was against the wall. She had some DVDS on the bottom shelves and then the top had some pictures, mostly of her family, some of her with what he could only assume were her friends. He picked one up of her when she was a little girl looking up adoringly at her brother, who was smiling for the camera.

She was a really cute kid, he thought to himself before he went to watch TV again and wait for her to come back. Dinner was casual and they watched a movie before they decided to head to bed. The flight from Cleveland had worn them out so they weren't really in the mood to rip each other's clothes off. She led him upstairs to her bedroom and it was a nice-sized room and it was decorated nicely, with a white bedspread splashed with blue paint splotches.

They got ready for bed and Stephanie sidled up to Chris's side, feeling nice and cozy in her own bed. Chris ran his fingers through her hair as he kind of looked around the darkened room, illuminated only by the moon creeping in through the partially closed drapes. He never figured her for a drape person, but what did he know about her?

"You know how I had to stop at Titan before coming back here?" Stephanie said, breaking the silence of the room.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"Well, apparently my dad has this new like, junior executive or something that got promoted and he asked me out, well, he asked for my number, presumably to ask me out at a later time. We were chatting about his promotion, that's why I took so long. He seemed nice enough, you know, good-looking, business-type…not a wrestler," she said and Chris laughed.

"Did you accept?"

"I don't know."

"Steph, what are you waiting for? Jump in with both feet," he told her. "You can't constantly think that everyone is just with you because you're a McMahon. That's just going to lead to you being alone."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that, you're scared of how people see you, but I'm sure there are people out there who see you and they don't see Stephanie McMahon, they just see a really cool person, so if this guy calls, what are you going to say?"

"Maybe…"

"Oh, Stephanie…"

"What do you want me to cook tomorrow night?" she asked, changing the subject. "Do you like anything in particular?"

"No, I'm good, do you want to go out for lunch?"

"Well…"

"Well, what?"

"I'm thinking, don't rush me!"

"We have to be at the show early, but we can stop somewhere quickly, Mexican?"

"We had Mexican on Saturday, let's get something else, besides, if we go to Mexican, you're just going to get something with jalapeno and then you're going to get a stomachache and you have to wrestle tomorrow."

"It doesn't always happen."

"Yes, it does, you get sliced jalapenos and you get a stomachache," she said. "Trust me, I know."

"I wouldn't have gotten a stomachache if you would've given me some of the beer you were drinking to neutralize the hotness of the jalapeno," Chris told her.

She rolled her eyes, "You were sick, you had germs, I didn't want to catch said germs. You shouldn't drink from other people's glasses, you should know that. What if you picked up someone else's water bottle? Who knows who has herpes on their mouths?"

"Oh God, Steph!" he groaned, "That's disgusting!"

"What! You don't know!" she told him and he started laughing. She started laughing too, "Oh come, like you haven't at least wondered about things like that."

"No!" he exclaimed. "You're hilarious."

"What, stop making fun of me," she told him, shoving his side a little bit. "What about Japanese? I know that you like to have sushi if we're on the coasts, and Connecticut is on the coast."

"That could be good," he said, "but we had Asian food tonight, have you ever had Mediterranean food?"

"I don't think so," she responded.

"Oh man, I'm going to take you to that then, I'll look around and see if there's a cool place, but if there isn't, we'll take a trip to New York and there's bound to be some really great place there," he told her excitedly.

"Sounds like fun, you're cute when you get excited," she told him.

"You're weird…herpes, I can't believe you would say that. So what are you doing this weekend?"

"What do you mean? Going to the house shows."

"We're going to be in Florida soon, you going to stay at my house?"

"Was that an invitation?"

"Well yeah, we share a room, and I think our bed would be really lonely if you were in there alone so you should come to stay with me. I've got plenty of room remember?"

Stephanie took pause for a moment, letting Chris's words run through her head a couple of times before she spoke again. Chris looked at her, wondering if she had fallen asleep on him. "What did you say?"

"I was returning the favor and extending my home to you like you extended yours to me."

"No, no, no…you said that it was _our_ bed."

"Yeah, well, we share," he said. "So it's our bed."

"But…I mean, _our_ bed."

"Yeah…our bed, what's your point here, Steph?"

"Oh my God, don't you get it, Chris? God, I didn't even…this isn't about sex anymore."

"What? So you mean that you want to date other people?"

"Did you just hear what you said!"

"What?"

"Date other people? Doesn't that have to imply that _we're _dating?" she asked and it was like the light-bulb went off over Chris's head. He looked at her and he looked around and it was just like the floodlights had spotlighted him. Stephanie lifted her head and looked at him. "We're dating."

"We're dating? Are you sure? I mean, I don't know anything about you, it's just lust, right?"

"What's my favorite movie?"

"_Say Anything_," he answered immediately.

"What's my favorite piece of jewelry?"

"Your sapphire earrings that your grandmother…oh my God, we're dating."

"Your favorite movie is _Evil Dead _and you wear your cross because your mom gave it to you for your high school graduation and you feel like a part of her is with you when you wear it even though you didn't feel very religious after her accident," she told him, then she giggled, "Oh my God, we're _stupid_."

He thought back to everything they had been through over the past couple of months. People wanting to date them and them backing off, Stephanie and Kurt, him and Jessica, Stephanie and Paul…all of them brushed off for whatever they had here. Them wanting to share rooms, him taking her out to dinner, taking her places, them talking, watching TV…everything they did was like any normal, dating couple. They hung out, they went out to dinner, they shared a room, all of it was just so boringly normal.

All this time he had thought it was just lust that fueled his relationship with Stephanie. They had never had a relationship before they started having sex so it was just right for him to assume that was all their relationship would amount to. Stephanie felt the same way. She never had reason to believe that she and Chris were more because she had this set of rules that she supposedly lived by, but somehow she believed that Chris had just been one of those things, sowing the wild oats or something like that. She had such strict rules about dating a wrestler she must've just forgotten that she was sleeping with one.

He shook his head, "So wow…um, hey…"

"Hi," she returned.

"So we've been dating for a while now, huh? I mean, we've been sleeping together for like, almost five months, right?"

"About that."

"That's a while, geez," he said in disbelief as he stared up at the ceiling. "It's…that's the way it's been though, I mean, I do take you out, I pay for you, sometimes you pay for me, we hang out all the time, I don't go out with the guys so I can hang out with you, I haven't even looked at another woman since we've been together."

"I wasn't bothered by not going out with Kurt," she said, "or Paul, because I knew I had you."

"Yeah?" he asked, a smile peeking on his face.

"Yeah," she said, blushing and being happy for the darkness right now.

He reached up and brushed her hair out of her face. "How the hell did this happen without us knowing?"

She leaned into his touch, "I guess we just got it into our heads that it was only about sleeping together and that we didn't really know each other, but I've been learning and you've been learning and we just didn't realize that we knew everything and we were a couple."

"So you're my…girlfriend?"

"Only if you're my boyfriend," she responded in a silly voice.

"So we go public, what about your rule about dating a wrestler?" he asked, studying her face which he realized he could read really well. Her eyes were shining gray in the white moonlight and her hair was hanging down around her face, shrouding it just a little bit. A smirk grew on her lips and she leaned forward kissing his chin and then working her way up slowly to his ear. He wrapped his left arm around her waist, pulling her further on top of him as he realized that nothing had changed. This was who they were a day before, a week before, a month before, and the only thing that really changed was their point of view. She nibbled on his ear a bit before whispering something that made him grin.

"You're the exception."

* * *

A/N: AAHHH, footnote! Anyways, there is more planned for the story, but do you guys think I should end it here? Because it is a good ending, let me know, please, I'm really torn. :P


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Okay, so the overwhelming response was to continue the story so I'm continuing it. It does have more to it as there's just, well, more to it. And I guess it could feel like a sequel or something, like this is the 2nd part. Yeah, I'm rambling, hope you continue to like the story and reviews are love so show me some. ;)

* * *

"I don't like your hair like this."

"I have to wear it this way for the show."

"Looks like a rat's nest or something."

"Oh, you have to use that when you insult me!" Stephanie exclaimed, her eyes lighting up at the possibility that he could use that when he described her. "That would be so perfect."

"It really does though, I don't see why you can't wear it straight, I like it when it's straight, or when you do the soft curl thing, I like that too," he told her as he fingered a few strands of her hair, "This though, how the hell am I supposed to get my fingers through this tonight?"

"What makes you think that we're going to be doing anything tonight that requires you to run you fingers through my hair?"

"I meant tonight, _tonight_," he said suggestively.

"Again, what makes you think that?"

"What, so now because we're dating we're not sex-crazed idiots who go at it every chance they get?" he teased.

"Yeah, that's about right," she told him, turning her head to grin up at him. "My hair's not that bad. I'm trying to play up an image here. I'm the bitch, the person that everyone hates. I put people in unfair matches, I fire people, this is who I'm supposed to be. Have a bitchy hairdo is just all part of it."

"If you insist."

"I can't very well change it now, that would require a shower."

"I can arrange that," he said, winking at her.

She bit her lip a little bit, then shook her head, "No…"

"But why not? You're taking away all my fun," he said to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. She reached up and grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together as they walked down the hallway. "We're sharing a dressing room tonight so it's not like anyone would notice."

"Oh yeah, sure, my luck I miss my segment because I'm in the shower with you and then my father comes in and sees me in a towel and goes ballistic, and then all hell breaks loose, and you really want that?"

"Yes, I really want that," he told her.

"No, tonight's our big night, do you remember what you're supposed to be doing?"

"Yeah, I mistake you and Tori for some of the Godfather's hos, you know, if you were a ho, then I really wouldn't have wanted you to share your beer with me when we were out because then I definitely would've gotten herpes on my mouth."

"Shut up, it was just a question!" she told him, pouting exaggeratedly. He laughed and leaned down to kiss her, earning stares from the scant few people that were milling about. They were here pretty early today because they had a meeting with Vince over how this feud was going to go. They had the basis for it in the short-term, but they were going to talk long-term.

"So funny," he laughed, "you're so cute when you get mad."

"Glad you noticed," she joked and they looked at each other for a moment before bursting into more laughter. Their sheer obliviousness was hilarious to them. They had spent most of the previous evening spouting off different times they had acted like a couple without even realizing they were a couple. He would point out a time where he picked up her dry cleaning for her and she would tell of a time when she had seen a shirt he would've liked and bought it without thinking.

"Well, once I get the hell knocked out of me by a revelation I tend to wake up," he said, kissing her temple.

"I guess we're more alike than we thought," she said as they came upon their dressing room. They went inside and threw their things down before going to the meeting room since they were running a bit short on time. "Come on, I don't want to be late and I don't feel like explaining to my father that we're late because we were making out or something."

"We weren't making out, we were eating lunch," he said, and she gave him a look that he now knew that he knew it all too well. "Okay, so we weren't making out _much_, still most of our time was occupied by the eating."

"Sure it was," she said as they got to the meeting room. He stopped them outside for a moment. She looked back at him, "Come on, Chris, we have to get in there."

"I know," he told her, "I just wanted to know what was going to happen when we got in there. In the haste of finding out that we're total idiots, I don't think we discussed your family in relation to all of this."

"What's the problem? My dad likes you."

"Yeah, he likes me as Chris Jericho, the wrestler, but what about Chris Irvine, his daughter's boyfriend?"

"I don't care," she told him. "He doesn't get a say. The rules were in place because _I_ put them in place. It wasn't some sanction put there by my father. He warned me, yes, but I know you, Chris, we've been together for five months, longer if you count before, but _before_ doesn't get mentioned because it makes me look easy, but still, we've been together for a while now. I trust you and I care about you."

He felt warmed by her words. He leaned in for a quick peck on her lips, "Okay, well, if you're so sure."

"I'm sure, come on."

She opened the door and almost everyone was in there. It looked like Paul was the one running late and that made Stephanie surprised. Usually he was early to these things. No matter though, she thought as she sat down next to Chris. She was well aware that they were holding hands and she was also aware that her father, a stickler for the details of life, had probably seen those clasped hands and was wondering to himself. Chris sat next to Stephanie and looked down at the table. He wanted to wrap his arm around her again, but he was honestly not sure, maybe afraid, if he should do so.

"We're just waiting on Paul," Vince told them.

"Okay," Stephanie said. "Do you have anything good for us, Dad?"

"Well, I think I have a direction I'd like to go into, how do you feel about Iron Man matches, Chris?" Vince asked.

Chris looked up as he was being addressed. Vince's eyes bore into him, and he felt like he was being scrutinized. He gulped a little, "I'm fine with whatever you put me in, Vince. Seriously, you could put me in any match and I'll put on my best show."

"That is what I've come to expect from you," he said. "So how long have you two been together?"

Well, he sure didn't beat around the bush. Chris was a little taken aback by his candor and bluntness. He didn't know what to say, really, but leave it to a McMahon to face down a McMahon. "Five months," Stephanie said, "give or take."

Vince raised his eyebrow, "Five months?"

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure that he wasn't using me because I'm so gorgeous," Stephanie joked, looking over at Chris, who smiled tentatively over at her. Her all-out grin made him more at ease and he started to smile a little bit more. "He's not."

"Good," Vince said, and that was that, "I just hope this doesn't negatively affect your storyline because he _is_ going to continue insulting you and I can't have you smiling at each other."

"No, it'll be fine, Vince, we can act like there's nothing between us," Chris said, glancing at Stephanie, who giggled at their inside joke.

"Okay," Vince said, looking between the two of them. "As long as you're both happy and not being used, either one of you, then that's fine. Thanks for telling your parents about this, by the way, Stephanie."

"Dad…"

"What about the thing with Kurt?"

"Well, that was…it's hard to explain," Stephanie said. "Suffice it to say, I was pissed that he thought he could come onto me, and so obviously use me, so we were trying to teach him a lesson."

Chris looked at her, impressed by how she just pushed that off. Paul walked in a moment later, apologizing hastily for being late before he took a seat on the other side of Stephanie. He was panting, so he must've been running to get here. He took a moment to compose himself and everyone just took pause and watched him get himself together. It was rather funny actually, with his hair coming loose from its ponytail and his general look of dishevelment.

He turned to Stephanie and gave her his best smile, "Hey, Stephanie."

"Hi, Paul," she said politely.

"You look good today," he told her.

"Thanks," she said, squirming a little as Chris pinched her thigh.

"No problem," he told her, "so what's going on?"

"We're discussing where we want to take this storyline," Vince said. "We know that tonight Chris is going to mistake Stephanie and Tori for some of the Godfather's hos. This will set up a kind of rivalry between Stephanie and Chris, and subsequently you, Paul, and Chris."

"It should probably climax at a big match, right?" Chris said, putting his input out there. It was so much different here, getting to put out his ideas and actually have the boss and the rest of the creative team listening to his suggestions.

"What did you have in mind?" Vince asked curiously.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but maybe like a No Holds Barred or something like that."

"Last Man Standing!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Or that," Chris added, laughing at Stephanie's exuberance, leave it to the one person who wouldn't be in the match to suggest it.

"That'd be fine with me," Paul shrugged.

"Well, we're going to have the title be in the picture because we are going to have you holding the title for part of this, so we'll work that in soon, any ideas?"

"Title change," Stephanie said, glancing over at Chris with a shy smile.

"Keep in mind that Dwayne is going to be getting the title at the end of this month."

"Okay, well then, make it a false one," Stephanie said, as if the answer should be completely obvious to everyone.

"What do you mean?" Vince asked.

"Have Chris win it by like, interference that wasn't seen or a fast count or something like that and then Paul and I can strong-arm the referee in question to reverse the decision and strike it from the record, simple as that, right?" Stephanie said, looking around.

"That's…that's actually quite brilliant," Vince said. "Where do you come up with these ideas?"

"I don't know, I mean, I think it's logical, don't you think?" she asked. She looked to Chris and he was nodding at her enthusiastically. He liked hearing her ideas and she liked sharing them with him because sometimes she felt like nobody else was listening.

"It's a great idea, we'll definitely fit that in, but I'm liking where this is going," Vince said. "I wanted to keep this brief because I'm going to meet with Benoit and Dwayne about a future storyline, so we'll discuss this more at a later date and Stephanie, good work."

"Thanks, Dad," Stephanie said. She walked out the door with Chris and Paul following, Chris in front of Paul. They were out the door and Stephanie turned and jumped a she looked to her boyfriend. "Did you hear that? He said I did good work!"

"I heard," Chris told her excitedly.

Stephanie grabbed his hands, "Oh, I'm so excited. He's finally listening to me!"

"Yeah, he is," Chris said, his smile lighting up his face. He was so proud of his girl and she was so happy it was rubbing off on him. "You had a great idea though, so how could he not listen to you. In fact, if you told him all the great ideas that you tell me, he'd make you president."

"Shut up," she told him, hugging him around the neck briefly. "Come on, let's go run around the parking lot or something."

"Run around the parking lot?"

"I need some way to get rid of this energy," she told him.

"You have the show later, remember, besides that rat's nest you call hair will get all sweaty," he told her.

She frowned, "Not a rat's nest…"

Chris leaned in and kissed her, "Okay, it's an owl's nest."

Paul, who had been watching with morbid fascination and growing jealousy, finally spoke up, "Are you two…dating?"

"What?" Stephanie said, forgetting that he had even been there. "What'd you say, Paul?"

"Are you two dating?"

"Yeah," Stephanie said as if she was just relaying the time. "Yeah, we're dating."

"Oh," Paul said and he looked down, missing the smirk on Chris's face. "Wow, how long have you two been dating?"

"About five months," Stephanie answered, "we just didn't feel like disclosing it to anyone, that's all. But yeah, five months strong. I'll see you later when we have to go out there, okay, bye."

Paul watched them walk away, happy as clams and that didn't really suit him. He really liked Stephanie and he had been the one wanting to date her. How the hell did he even start dating her? The man had only been in the company since last August and they had been dating for five months? That meant they had to have started dating sometime around December, barely six months from when he debuted. Paul had been here for years and he had gotten nothing from Stephanie. This didn't sit well with him, he didn't like Chris, and now he was getting power because he was with Stephanie.

Power was the last thing on their minds though as they walked down the hallway. There were more people milling in now, wrestlers mostly, and a lot of them were shocked as they saw Chris and Stephanie walking down the hallway, Chris's arm wrapped protectively around the slightly shorter Stephanie. Nobody had ever seen Stephanie really socialize with any of the male wrestlers, and they certainly hadn't seen her with Chris, but she didn't much care.

"Do you think what my father said could come true?" she asked.

"What's that?"

"About us not being able to act like we hate each other," she told him. "Because I really don't hate you, and I never did."

"Well, pretend that I'm Kurt, and really lay into me like you did to him," Chris told her and she pouted. He kissed her gently. "Too far?"

"Yes, I would've gone out with him once though, and that would've been it because I'm sure that I would've come up with some excuse not to go out with him a second time, not knowing that it was because I wanted to be with you and not because I didn't want to be with him."

"Oh, you're so wise," he told her.

"I like to think so," she said, pulling him into their locker room. "Aren't you glad that I got you your own locker room this week?"

"This isn't my own locker room," he said as she continued to pull him closer by the collar. "I'm just sharing with you because you always get your own locker room because you're spoiled."

"I am not," she told him, brushing her lips against his. "This is just a perk of knowing who arranges the locker rooms. Wouldn't you rather be with me than a stinky, old locker room full of guys?"

"Well, this is decidedly better," he said, looking around. "No noise, no naked guys milling about, quiet, all the things I like."

"Plus…"

"Plus my own shower."

She narrowed her eyes, "Plus…"

"Oh, oh, oh, you, that's right," he said, and she smacked him on the arm even as she brushed her lips over his again, but he captured her lips this time in a kiss. The heat was starting to turn up in the room and she felt herself being led over to the couch and she squealed against Chris as she was pulled down into his lap, straddling his legs as her knees hit the soft couch on either side of him.

She reached up to tangle her fingers in his long hair and it was so silky smooth that she needed to remind herself to steal his shampoo and conditioner. He tried getting his fingers through her hair, but it just wasn't working and she laughed against his lips and pulled his hand from her hair. He returned the laugh and pulled her closer so that her breasts were almost pressing into him. She was wearing a tube top that evening, mainly because of her character since she wasn't too fond of the top, but it did mean easy access for Chris. He could just pull the top down and she would be topless.

He started to worm his way into her shirt, just palming her breast lightly before moving a couple of fingers against the top of her chest. The small hairs of her body stood on end as his touch became more intimate and she grinded herself against him, causing a moan from his lips. She grinned inwardly at the reaction from him. It never failed to make her feel powerful when she had him wanting her, which was usually all the time.

"Stephanie, I was—oh my God!"

"Shane!" Stephanie said, pulling herself closer to Chris and thankful that he hadn't yet pulled down her top and had only been grazing her cleavage. Still, she pulled up her top as far as it would go and she got off of Chris's lap. "God, haven't you heard of knocking!"

"Sorry, I didn't…I didn't expect you to be…well, doing what you were doing," he said indelicately. "What _were_ you doing?"

"Making out with my boyfriend," Stephanie said. "Now what did you want?"

"Boyfriend?" Shane said, looking over Stephanie's shoulder at Chris, how was sitting there sheepishly. "Chris…Irvine…your boyfriend, Chris is your boyfriend."

"Yes, he's my boyfriend."

"When did this happen? What the hell, Stephanie?"

"We've been together for five months, Shane, it's not like this is anything new, we just didn't want to become public until I could be sure that he was with me for the right reasons and he is, so butt out."

"Shane, man, I'm not trying to like, use her," Chris told her older brother. "Really I'm not."

"Boyfriend, you have a boyfriend, and…he's in the company? Steph," he hissed, as if Chris couldn't hear him, "what about the set of rules that you had? Remember, you didn't want to date anyone in the company."

"I said there could be exceptions to the rule. This is an exception to the rule, _the_ exception to the rule," Stephanie tossed out there, gazing back at Chris, who gave her a warm smile that made her want to hug him.

"Chris Irvine is your boyfriend," Shane said again, trying to let that idea sink into his head because right now there was no sinking going on at all.

Kurt happened to walk by at this point and he stopped in his tracks as he looked into the open door where Shane and Stephanie were talking. He could see them, but they weren't paying attention to who was at the door. Shane looked slightly puzzled while Stephanie looked as assertive as ever. That made her so attractive that he just wanted to rip her clothes off. Damn her father for telling her the truth. She was so young and fresh. But what was this about her and Chris Irvine?

"Yes, okay, whoop-de-doo, it's not a big deal," Stephanie told her brother and Chris laughed. "And we're going to kiss, just so you know, we're going to kiss from time to time, though next time we're doing it, I would hope that you'd knock."

"Yeah, I guess," Shane said, looking distrustfully at Chris. He felt another pair of eyes on him and he looked to the right and saw Kurt just standing there, "What the hell do you want, Angle?" Shane had heard all about what he had done to his sister and he didn't like it one bit, but if Chris and Stephanie had been together for five months…what was the whole thing with Kurt?

"Nothing," Kurt said.

"Leave, Kurt," Stephanie said. "I've got nothing more to say to you. You know, I was going to go out with you that night and tell you that I didn't want to be with you and that I only considered you a friend because I was with Chris, but you couldn't even do that right."

Shane looked at his sister. _That_ was what it was all about. Well, he guessed that made sense. "I do suggest you leave," Chris said, which caused Kurt to storm away angrily. Shane looked at his sister's boyfriend. He had never heard bad things about Chris. It seemed that he was on the up and up. Nobody had any negative things to say about him and before he had joined the WWF, there had been a background check run on him, precautions since wrestling was like a free-for-all business, and the guy was clean as a whistle, even did a bunch of charity work for paralysis research.

"Well, um, what I came in here to say, I was going to ask if you wanted to grab lunch tomorrow before we left, but I guess…well, Chris, you can come too if you want, I mean, if you two are flying home together or what…"

"Well, since we're having shows in Florida next week and Chris lives in Florida, I was going to go with him," Stephanie said, "but we did leave enough time for lunch, if that's what you want to do, I'm game, Chris?"

"Yeah, sure, if you really want me there."

"I do," Stephanie chimed in.

"Yeah, sure," Shane said, nodding his head a little at the other man before leaving. Stephanie turned to Chris, shut and locked the door with her right hand and then led him right back to the couch where they resumed where they left off, except this time they knew they weren't going to be interrupted.

The time came for them to do their segment together, so they composed themselves and got in their places. Stephanie was bouncing in her wedge sandals, Tori getting some last minute touchups with her makeup. Chris was just out of camera shot and she kept looking back at him, hoping that this was going to go just as planned. She and Chris had been practicing together for a little while before they had to air so they knew exactly what to do. They were live so they were reduced to one take anyways. But they were going to be great, they could feel it. They would use their chemistry to their advantage.

Little did they know that two sets of eyes were bitterly watching them.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Thanks for the reviews everyone, things should be getting interesting soon, I think. Hope you enjoy the chapter and reviews are lovely so think about leaving one, thanks. :)

* * *

"Do we have anything tonight?"

Stephanie looked over her advanced copy of the schedule that had just been delivered to their hotel room. "No, nothing tonight, you just have a match with Pete against Benoit and Perry."

"So nothing with you at all?"

"Nope," she said, scanning the sheet again. "Nothing between us. I guess everyone thinks we're too hot together and their screens can't stand it."

"I think we've been doing a good job at hiding our relationship in front of the cameras," Chris told her. "We haven't started making out or anything yet. I like to think that I've been doing a good job pretending to hate you."

"I wish you were in the Kurt spot of this entire program," she sighed. "I don't like being around him."

"You want me to have the _Kurt_ spot?" he scoffed. "Steph, I would hope that you'd want me in the _Paul_ spot in this entire storyline. That way I'd get to play your husband and you would be making out with me and not with Paul."

"What if I like making out with Paul?" she teased.

"Then you would've gone out on more than one date with him," Chris pointed out and she snapped her fingers as if she was caught in some horrible lie.

"I guess you got me there."

"It's been fun working with you. Didn't your dad want to discuss what was going to happen with us further?"

"My dad loves us," Stephanie told him. "Over the weekend I went to dinner with him and my mom and he couldn't stop talking about how much he liked our work together. I don't know if he was just trying to be nice or what, but he says that the crowd loves it so he wants to continue with it, maybe even make it more prominent. I told him I was fine with that because it would take me away from actually having to work with Kurt."

"That would be a good thing."

"That's what I said," Stephanie said. "My dad says that you can see the chemistry between us, but that it comes off like sexual tension rather than us actually being a couple. I think he wants to play on that."

"I'm all for it," Chris said.

"You know what else he said?"

"Don't make me guess, I'm not good at guessing games," he told her, then pulled her into his arms. "What did he say?"

"He's putting me in charge of the storyline!" Stephanie said, grinning madly.

"He's what?"

"He's putting me in charge of the storyline. That means I get creative control of it, you and Paul do too, and to a lesser extent, Kurt, but he's going to be in a different feud pretty soon, so probably not Kurt, but I get to decide with it, isn't that great?"

"That's awesome, that's exactly what you wanted."

"I know, I couldn't believe it when he told me. He told me it's like a trial run for me. He said if he likes it, he'll start giving me creative control and I can start working with different storylines that don't involve me."

"I'm so proud of you," he said, kissing her temple. "This is great for you."

"I know, I thought so too," Stephanie said. "So please, put everything that you have into this storyline."

"I already would have. You know me, I don't do anything half-assed," he told her, staring down her shirt and then winking at her. She shoved him away playfully before he leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. She moaned softly against his mouth before pulling away and looking at him.

"I know you don't, but we've actually got to get to the show."

"What? Not even time for a quickie?"

"No," she said, getting up. "We've got a show to go to, come on, boyfriend."

They got to the arena and they were getting far fewer stares than they had a few weeks ago when they came out with their relationship, or rather when they themselves realized they were together. They went to their joint dressing room and set their things down and then went their separate ways. Already knowing what he had planned for that evening, he went to go find his tag team partner and then meet with their opponents.

Stephanie went to go talk to her brother about what they were going to do tonight. She turned the corner and saw Kurt. She thought about turning around and just meeting with her brother later, but she wasn't going to let this guy intimidate her. She had only dealt with him professionally or through other people and seeing as how there no other people in the hallway, she would probably actually have to talk to him.

It was too late now, she had already been spotted.

"Stephanie!" he called out and she nearly turned the other way, but didn't.

"What?" she asked curtly, keeping her tone polite, but not warm.

"I was hoping that we could talk. I haven't gotten a real chance to speak with you, you were always busy or with your family or with…Chris," he choked the last name out. He had been as surprised as anyone to see the two of them together and had been even more surprised when he found out they had been together for over five months.

"I don't have the time," she said, trying to get past him.

"You never have time to talk."

"Did you ever think that was on purpose?" she asked him sardonically.

"Look, Stephanie, I know that I was an asshole to you, I realize that and I'm owning up to it. Won't you just give me the opportunity to apologize to you, I think that I owe you that much."

"I don't want to hear it, it's done, I dealt with it and it's done."

"Doesn't it make you uncomfortable?"

"What's there to be uncomfortable about?" Stephanie asked. "You did something, I rectified the situation and now we just work together, there's nothing wrong as far as I can see."

"Stephanie, I didn't mean to make you feel like you did, you have to believe me," he told her. "Look, my wife and I…we're having problems, I swear we are. Everything was just reaching a boiling point and I really liked you."

"Okay, you've said your piece," Stephanie said, "and you know my stance on it. Besides, I was with Chris and he knew all about you and I wouldn't have left him for you even if you weren't married."

Kurt bit the inside of his cheek at that, "Stephanie, can you please just let me talk to you. We can just maybe go to catering and sit down and talk."

"No," Stephanie told him, "I'm not going to do that."

"Hey, is everything okay over here?" Paul asked as he walked up on the scene. He had been looking for Stephanie to talk over the schedule for next week. His sister was having a baby and he was hoping he could get out of a house show. He figured that Stephanie would be the easiest McMahon to go to. He had seen Stephanie and Kurt obviously arguing and had seen an opening to come over and stop the fight.

Ever since he had found out that Chris and Stephanie were together, he had been trying to think of ways to break them apart. He was the one who had seen Stephanie first, for sure. What right did Chris have to claim her when he had liked her first? There was something so pure and untainted about Stephanie and he wanted her for himself. It wasn't even the power she could give him, it was just…her, there was something about her that drew him in.

Some people would say it was just the close proximity with which they worked together, but he knew it was more than that. He wanted her for his very own and any power that she may give him, well, that'd just be an added bonus. He already figured that the rest of the McMahons liked him (they didn't), but he just wanted this particular McMahon to like him. He figured if he came off as a good guy if he slowly persuaded Stephanie away from Chris, made her see what he was really like, then he would have her the way he wanted her.

And who was Chris Irvine anyways? The guy hadn't even been here a year and he thought he was capable of being one of the main guys? This didn't sit right with Paul and he couldn't stand Chris as a result. The little weasel had just swooped in and taken Stephanie right out from under his nose and it really chafed him.

"Yes, Paul, everything's fine, I was just discussing things with Kurt," Stephanie said. If Kurt was the last person she wanted to deal with, Paul was probably the second-to-last. Things had felt weird between the two of them ever since she had come out saying she was dating Chris and she couldn't quite put her finger on what was different.

"Oh, I wanted to discuss something with you if it wasn't a problem."

"Not at all," Stephanie said, shrugging at Kurt before walking off with Paul, "Thanks so much for saving me from him, I just didn't want to talk to him."

"Is this about what happened when he asked you out?" Paul asked.

"God, things don't die down around here, do they?"

He laughed, "I guess not. What happened there anyways? I thought you and Chris had been together, don't tell me there was trouble in paradise this early on in the relationship."

Stephanie stared at Paul for a long moment, but then shook off the comment, "No, there was no dissension in the ranks. Chris and I knew what was going on, we just decided to have a little fun with Kurt. I'm just insulted that he would actually think that I would want to be a party to his adultery."

"That's really sick of him to do," Paul said, shaking his head. "I don't have anyone right now, but I would never cheat, I don't think it's in me, you know. I never cheated when I was with Joanie."

"That's good," Stephanie said. "I'm not a cheater either, maybe we should start a club or something."

"I'm game if you are," he joked.

She laughed, "Nah, I don't have the time. So what was it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

"Well, my sister is having a baby next week and I was hoping I could get the house show off to go see her and the baby. If that's a problem or something…I mean, I just wanted to," he decided to appeal to her sensitive side. "My sister has wanted a baby for so long and I would just love to be there to see my new nephew. I love kids, I think they like me too, I just…they're adorable."

"I wouldn't know, I don't have any and they don't seem to like me and I don't seem to like them," Stephanie said and Paul cursed under his breath.

"Well, they can be annoying."

"You just said you loved them."

"The non-bratty ones, I mean, the brats are annoying."

"Yes…brats tend to be annoying," Stephanie said slowly. "I'm sure I can get you off the schedule if that's what you want."

"You're the best, Steph!" he told her, going in for a hug. Stephanie awkwardly patted him on the back, not engaging herself fully into this hug. She didn't even know why he was hugging her. He pulled away and grinned at her, but she only gave him a slight smile back, "So what do we have on tap tonight?"

"Um, all night we're going to be scared that Austin is back and we're going to keep finding clues that he's here."

"Wow, that sounds like fun."

"Yeah, sure," she said, then spotted Chris, who was just walking down the hallway, oblivious to everything as he read a guitar magazine. "Chris!"

Chris looked up, "Oh, hey, Steph, what's up?"

"Mmm, it's so good to see you," she said, hugging him tightly. The smile faded from Paul's face as he saw how enthusiastically Stephanie was hugging Chris when she would barely touch him even after he had saved her from the clutches of Kurt Angle.

"We just saw each other like 15 minutes ago," he told her.

"I know, but that's too long," she said, linking their arms, "we've got to go talk, I'll see you later, Paul, I'll get back to you about the house show thing." She practically dragged Chris away and breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God you were there."

"What happened?"

"I don't like Paul and I don't like Kurt and they were both bugging me," she said. "So thank God I realized that I wanted to date you so I didn't have to be chased by those two douchebags all the time. I think I would've thrown myself off a cliff."

"I told you having a boyfriend in the company would have its perks."

"And you were right," she said, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "What would I do without you?"

"Well, making out with a married man, for one."

Stephanie smacked him in the arm. Meanwhile, Kurt had just walked up to Paul and looked at the other man as he stared after Stephanie McMahon. "Isn't that sickening?"

"What?" Paul asked.

"Those two…sickening, really. I would rather see her alone than with that guy."

"What are you saying?"

"What I'm saying is that the two of us should team up to break them up. I can't stand that they were going to make a fool out of me, I don't get made a fool of, I'm an Olympic gold medalist and I deserve more respect than Stephanie has given me, and I think everyone in the whole fucking company knows that you want her."

"So? What's it to you?"

"Team with me and we can break them up."

"Why should I trust you?"

"Because I know just how to do it."

"How?"

"Join me and you can know." Paul contemplated it for a moment. This had so much potential to just blow up in his face, but his plan was not working and he wanted Stephanie and he wanted her now. He also wanted Chris to be humiliated so Stephanie would never want him again. It seemed that Kurt had the answers.

"Fine, I'm in."


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, really appreciate them and I hope you enjoy the chapter, a special update on my not usual day, so doesn't that deserve a review. ;) Gotta love that Smoochy, hope you enjoy! :)

* * *

"So I was thinking about what you can do tonight and this is what I came up with."

Chris took the script from Stephanie's outstretched arm. This was probably the first time he had seen her all evening. She had been off with meetings and things. It was a little strange to see Stephanie taking meetings and things, but she was taking this creative control very seriously and wanted to impress her father with how much she could actually do. So she was dead-set on making everything perfect.

"I already got the script though," Chris said, looking up at her. "I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm going to be in a six-man tag with the Hardys and you're going to be the one that gives me the match."

"Yeah, that's the _boring_ way to do things," Stephanie said, rolling her eyes, "if you want to not even keep what we have going."

"What we have…"

"Our storyline, keep up," she said, plopping herself down next to him, scooting closer so she was nearly hanging off of him. She leaned her head against his shoulder blade as he flipped through the script. "Look, we're working towards our end game here, right? We're working towards King of the Ring…which reminds me, what are you doing after the show tonight?"

"Babe, you know what I'm doing after the show tonight, I was planning on doing you."

"Wow, keep up with that and I may just forget that we were even together in the first place. I meant, did we have plans for tonight? I forgot."

"So you don't even remember what we're supposed to be doing? Wow, how invested are you in this relationship?" he teased. Stephanie slugged him in the side and he grunted and turned his head to capture her lips in a kiss.

"I'm very invested, thank you very much, I'm just busy right now, you understand, right?" Stephanie asked, looking up at him. She didn't really know if he would understand why this was so important to her. For so long she lived in Shane's shadow. Shane was the golden boy and it wasn't like she wasn't appreciated in her family, but when it came to wrestling, she had always been looking on from the sidelines, never called to participate. Hell, Shane had even gotten to be a referee before he even entered the business fully and she had been stuck, as a kid, doing catalogue work.

"Of course, you want to make sure this is perfect, I only hear you go on about it everyday."

"Okay, well then you do know," Stephanie said. "Anyways, do we have plans?"

"No, we were just going to go back to the hotel room," he told her.

"Good because I'm calling a meeting for after the show," she said.

"You are calling or you have called?" he inquired of her.

She blushed a little, her cheeks turning the slightest twinge of red. "I have called it."

"So really, you didn't care what we were doing after the show, you're just here to inform me that we're going to have a meeting after the show?"

"I was trying to be polite in case we had plans and you had things to cancel."

"No, I mean, we probably could go out to dinner unless we decide to eat from catering, is the food good, have you tried it?"

"No, I'm not hungry, anyways, we shouldn't be too long, we can go out after…but anyways, I already called the meeting and it's just going to be you, me, and Paul anyways…it involves Kurt too, but I don't give a shit what he thinks."

Chris laughed, "Okay, so I'm going to have to sit across from the guy who's trying to lure you away from me?"

"He understands we're together," Stephanie said. "We have to figure out something for King of the Ring. My dad is absolutely loving the storyline, you know this…"

"I do, every time we go out to dinner with the man it's probably the only thing he can talk about. You know, I think your dad would become a minister just so he could marry us just to continue this storyline."

"Don't talk about marriage, that's scary, scary territory," she said, pretending to shiver as he cuddled closer to her. "I want to make an impact, something that people will remember. Plus, my dad wants to continue this thing we have going and include Paul more. I mean, I know he's involved as it is, with him like defending my honor or whatever he's doing, but it's been more my problem than his problem, but my dad is set on putting you two together, remember, with the Last Man Standing match, but we have to think of a way this would happen, a plausible way this would happen."

"And do you have ideas?"

"Well, I have a couple," Stephanie said, "I wanted to discuss it more with Paul, you know, get his input, but I have a vision."

"Ooh, a vision," he said, pretending to sound like a mystic or something.

In truth, he was just happy to see her so happy and excited about something. She was such an important part of his life now and they were going very strong. He had fun with her and loved being with her and he was so proud of her. It was a great relationship and they still had a ton of fun, just as much as when they were oblivious to the true nature of their relationship. Now they just knew the meaning behind everything they did. Her face was so expressive right now, her eyes shining and her lips slightly parted and he felt compelled to kiss her, so he did.

"Are you going to let me in on this little vision or do I have to wait around like a mere mortal?"

"Well, I mean, we have chemistry, right, obviously and I think we should absolutely capitalize on that aspect of our on-screen relationship."

"Okay…"

"Well, I mean, you know, we can't just sit on it, right? People see we hate each other, but I think they also see that we're completely attracted to one another, sort of, you know, in that love-hate kind of way."

"Yes, but I'm not getting at what you're saying."

"I think you should kiss me."

"Okay, sure," he said, starting to lean in towards her face.

She pulled back, "What are you doing?"

"You wanted me to kiss you."

"No!" she exclaimed. "At King of the Ring, I think you should kiss me."

"What? Why?"

"Because, it'll be like you're exploding, you know, like you just couldn't stand it anymore and you just needed to kiss me, that's how it'll be. Like, it's an impulsive thing, but then you'll play it off like you were just doing it to distract me or something so you torment me even more, Paul gets pissed off even more and then the two of you get into the Last Man Standing match."

"Well, I don't really see any flaws with that, but do you think people would believe it if I kissed you?"

"Of course they will, they probably think we should already be making out."

"Well who am I to deny their request," he said, tossing the long-forgotten script from his hand and grabbed Stephanie's waist and pulling her into his lap. She squealed in surprise as Chris started to kiss her neck. She tried to push him away playfully but then gave in and started kissing him back.

Then she remembered herself and pushed away from him, "Wait, I forgot about what I came in here for in the first place."

"More kissing, less talking."

"Chris, no, this is important, this is for tonight," Stephanie said, pushing herself further away and leaning across him to grab the script. "I wrote in some stuff for you to say."

"I know what to say," he said. "I know how to do promos, remember? I don't need them scripted for me."

"I know, but I added in notes," she said, flipping to the right page. "See, this is what you should say tonight."

Chris wanted to keep kissing her, but she grabbed him by the chin with her free hand and turned it forcibly over to the script and then pointed to the notes she had scribbled into the margins. "You want me to say that you have a crush on me."

"Yes, because if you're going to kiss me, we better start kind of hinting at it now."

"Hinting that you like me?"

"Hinting that we like _each other_," she told him. "See, if you say this, with disgust, it starts to put seeds into people's heads. So you should say that I have a crush on you because I've been focusing so much on destroying you but that I would only have a chance if I stopped being that line you came up with."

"Filthy, dirty, disgusting, brutal, skanky, bottom-feeding trash bag ho," Chris supplied for her.

"Which one of those do you actually believe I am, by the way?"

"Definitely dirty," he told her, winking.

She laughed, "So say that, okay?"

"Do you have a crush on me?" he asked.

"I can't tell you that, I'll send you a note in homeroom."

"Oh good," Chris said.

"So you think this is good, you don't think it's stupid and unbelievable?"

"Given the fact we are in fact dating, I think it's a pretty decent idea, great even, wonderful, the best storyline ever!" he said enthusiastically, smirking at her. He pulled her shirt to the side a little, "Which underwear are you wearing today?"

"Chris!" Stephanie chastised. "Just be good out there and make it believable. I've got things to do because I have to go over what _I'm_ supposed be doing on-screen tonight, most of which I think is just acting like a bitch to you."

"Oh," he said. "Well, that's no different from every other night."

"I hate you, you're a jerk," she said, getting off of him and going towards the door. Chris got up after her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back against his chest. She turned her head and gave him a brief kiss.

"Okay, now you can go, I just wanted my kiss." He let her go and she turned around and gave him another kiss and then leaned in close so her lips were right next to her ear.

"Fine," she said, "oh and by the way, it's the one with the lollipops that say 'lick me' on them."

"You're killing me here, Steph," Chris said with a deep sigh. Stephanie winked at him and then pulled up her skirt a little to show off her pink panties with little multi-colored lollipops dotted around it and indeed, there were the words 'lick me' written in pretty, little cursive all over them. She knew Chris loved her underwear and delighted in the look on his face. It was a mixture of lust and just adoration and she was happy it was directed at her.

She was glad she had made the exception for Chris. It wasn't that he was the antithesis of what she thought wrestlers were, Chris _was_ a wrestler and it defined a lot of who he was, but he was also something more. He was a very decent man who didn't let wrestling dictate everything about him. He didn't let it get to his head. He loved wrestling for the wrestling, the entertainment, the crowds, he didn't love it for the fact it could get his dick into any chick it wanted to be in and for the drugs that he could so easily get to satiate whatever vice he had.

Just for that, he got another kiss. Stephanie left Chris's locker room and flounced down the hallway to go over her own script and figure out what she wanted to say when she was on-screen. Kurt and Paul were a little ways away talking with one another. The beautiful brunette caught both their eyes and their tongues were practically sticking out as she walked in the other direction, her hips swinging unintentionally.

"You still haven't told me what this plan you have is. We haven't even _done_ anything regarding it. She's still with that idiot. You really don't have a plan, do you?"

"I do, but we can't do it immediately. Let them have their time and then we'll destroy them."

"How do I know you won't take her?"

"I'm married," Kurt said, "she knows this. Unless I show up with divorce papers, she wouldn't touch me. Hell, even if I did, she wouldn't after what happened. I just don't want to see her with that guy. They both humiliated me. You can take her."

Paul nodded his head, "I do want her."

"Yeah and I've got the perfect secret weapon to bring them down. I've been thinking it over and I think I know what to do…when the time is right."

"What is it?" Paul asked.

"I can't tell you right now, I'm still working it out."

"Just tell me already. Or give me a hint, I don't give a shit, but don't keep me in the dark about something like this. I deserve to be in the know."

"Fine, a hint then."

"Fine."

"Jessica."


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you're liking the story, hope you enjoy the chapter, reviews are nice and pretty so think about leaving one! :)

* * *

"Who's Jessica?"

"Oh yeah, you're new," Paul said, "she's Chris's ex-girlfriend. They went out when he just joined the company and he would bring her ever week. She was kinda cute, short, blonde, you know, tight body and all that. They seemed pretty tight, but then suddenly she was gone. I guess it was right around then he got with Stephanie."

"So if they broke up then what would she even want to do with Chris?"

"Well, I heard…overheard…that it was him who dumped her and that he did it over the phone even though they went out for months. It's a total chicken-shit move right there. She's probably pissed at him and she'll help us break them up."

"Do you really think she'd help?"

"Get back at her boyfriend who dumped her for another girl?"

"You don't know that's what happened though," Kurt told him.

Paul groaned. "Of course I don't, but that doesn't mean that Jessica knows. I'm sure Chris gave her some typical break-up story, you know, the old 'it's not you, it's me' routine. But if we can get to her and tell her that Chris was cheating on her, then she gets angry and of course she'd be in for some revenge or we can say that Chris realized his mistake, but can't get out of his relationship with Stephanie."

"You're really kind of a jackass, aren't you?" Kurt said, not that he really minded if it gave him a shot at Stephanie. She was beautiful and she had her voice in her father's ear and what wasn't to love about that. When Kurt had joined professional wrestling, he hadn't done it to be some midcarder. He wanted to be in the main event, he wanted to be the best at it and he was determined to do so and it couldn't hurt to have Stephanie on his arm while he was doing that.

"I'm not a jackass, I just know how to get what I want, how do you think I got to be where I am? I was getting screwed over for a mistake I made, but I turned it over and now I'm on top. You do what you have to do and I don't want Chris getting what I want."

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy though," Kurt pointed out, starting to feel a little bit of a conscience creep up on him. He had no problem with Chris, Chris was just in the way of Stephanie. It wasn't like he hated the guy or anything. He didn't want to necessarily hurt him.

"Yeah, whatever," Paul told him. "Look, it's not like we're leaving him high and dry or anything, he can have Jessica back. They liked each other, I'm sure that if they were given another chance they could make it work."

"Were they were really that good together?"

"Oh, they absolutely were, always hanging off each other and she was willing to travel to the shows to be around him, which had to cut into her time. They'll be good together."

"I guess, but what if Chris and Stephanie are really serious?"

"Serious, please, he's probably just with her to get to the top," Paul said, "we're just about to bring him back down."

Stephanie rolled her eyes at Chris, but he didn't see them. She'd been trying to get his attention for the past fifteen minutes, but he was so engrossed in the Stephen King novel he was reading, he wasn't paying attention to her at all. She knew he loved to read, he always brought a book on the planes with him and he always had one in his bag to read if he had nothing to do backstage, but she wanted him and he wasn't paying any attention to her. She'd tried clearing her throat, she'd tried scooting closer to him, she'd tried grabbing his hand (which he absently pulled away when he had to turn the page). She was at her wit's end.

"Guess what underwear I'm wearing?"

"The ones that say 'pat the bunny' on the front and they have the rabbit fluffy tail picture on the back," Chris told her without looking up. "We share a room, I see you dress in the morning."

Stephanie leaned over him, her shirt mysteriously being unbuttoned to show off her cleavage, "Hi."

Chris laughed and looked up from his book, his glasses falling down a little. "What do you want? I know you've been trying to get my attention, but as you can see I'm almost done with my book and I want to finish it."

"You can do that later," she said, grabbing his book and putting his bookmark back in to mark his page. "I want you to pay attention to me."

"I didn't know you were so needy in a relationship," he said, pulling her into his lap more firmly, "so what is it that you need?"

"I just need to gripe, is that okay?"

"Gripe away," he told her.

"I just hate working with Paul. It's been weird ever since we came out with our relationship. I just feel like every dynamic between us is different and I'm worried about the storyline because this is my big break into getting more leverage with my father and…"

"Steph, I think you have the leverage," he told her and she looked at him, this man who knew so much about her without even trying, this man who she slept with after knowing for less than an hour.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at what your father is giving you," Chris told her. "Has he given Shane all this power in his storyline that he has with Rock, is that who he's feuding with?"

"No," Stephanie said, "my dad is pretty much keeping a close eye on that one, but maybe it's because that one is a bigger feud and this one isn't top priority?"

"I think it's because your dad trusts you with this one. And don't let Paul make things weird for you. He's probably just jealous of me or something asinine like that, although, he has every right to be jealous because I've got you," Chris told her with a wink.

"Have you always been this charming?" she asked him, kissing him on the cheek as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Of course I am, how do you think I got you into bed after an hour? You just never notice these things," he joked and she laughed. Her laugh was infectious and he found himself laughing a few moments later.

"So you really don't think that my dad trusts me?"

"I think you're a lot like your dad. Granted, I haven't known him that long and I don't know him as well I as I know you, but from what I can see and what I know from having dinner with him so often because he loves me apparently."

"He loves what you bring to the company is more like it," Stephanie told him, "now my mother, on the other hand, she does like you."

"Either way, you and your dad are a lot alike and I think that's why he trusts your decisions so much."

"What about Paul? I don't want him screwing this up for me. I don't want him to suddenly start acting like we're for real or something because we're not and I don't like it when guys get overly protective of me, it bugs me."

"First of all, duly noted, second of all, don't pay attention to Paul. He knows that this is his job in the balance and I'm sure he's not jealous of me…I mean, wait, of course he is, you're gorgeous, but he won't screw it up for you."

"He's already acting differently towards me," she bit her bottom lip. "I'm putting too much stock into this, aren't I?"

"Just a little, but I find it endearing," he told her.

"I just worry that he took this news of us dating worse than I thought. Don't you think there's something a little dark about him?" Stephanie wondered. "I mean, don't you think that underneath it all, there's something almost…I don't know, sinister?"

"He's not a super villain," Chris joked, but Stephanie was serious so he toned down the joking and looked at her. "I think he's just really into his job and yeah, I think he can be a bit possessive of things and maybe he's taking your storyline too far, but that's his problem. If he tries some stunt like breaking us up, it's not going to work."

"It's not?"

"No, it's not going to work at all. We've been together for a while now, not seeing it notwithstanding and I enjoy the pleasure of your company and your body and we know each other so well. I think that when we thought we weren't together and we were soaking up the information, it was more organic, I don't know if that makes sense."

"Yeah, you're speaking gibberish to me, Chris, you'll have to explain," she implored him as she played with the strands of his hair in her immediate grasp. He loved when she played with his hair and he couldn't quite explain why. Maybe it was just the feel of her fingers in his hair, but whatever it was, it was nice. He liked that Stephanie was in the company, but that she wasn't overbearing him either. It was different from those two other women he'd dated in the company. They were crazy and Stephanie was so grounded she might as well put down roots.

"It's just that I didn't realize I was learning about you so I think it sunk in more than if I were to ask you all your favorites. I think we were so oblivious that nothing was really off-topic for us, thus-"

"Well, I never figured you for a guy who used thus in sentences," she interrupted him and he shook his head at her. "Okay, sorry, sorry, continue, please."

"Thus, I know more about you than even I know."

"Okay, still makes no sense, but I love the sentiment," she told him. She looked down, "so you think you just know everything about me then, that's what you're saying here?"

"I wouldn't say anything, I'm not an idiot," Chris told her. "But if Paul thinks he's going to win you over by thinking that he knows you better than me, I'll go into a competition for that, for sure. We could even have a lightning round and I'd smoke his ass."

"Oh, is that so?"

"It is so, try me," he told her, challenging her to ask him something.

"Okay, fine. What did my mom used to get me when I was sick that would always make me feel better?" Stephanie asked.

"Corn dogs because even back then, you liked to have long, thick things in your mouth," Chris said and then laughed when Stephanie slapped him in the shoulder, "sorry, sorry, I think a little of my current character snuck in there."

"Very funny. You know the real answer."

"Because it reminded you of the time you went to the fair and you loved the corn dogs and they always made you feel better," Chris said, "see, I know, does Paul know that, don't think so, I'm better, he sucks, we're awesome, he's not awesome, we should have sex tonight, he'll probably use his hand."

"You're insatiable," she told him, leaning her head in and kissing him. "You're just luck that I am too."

"Thank goodness for that, I'm a lucky, lucky guy," he told her, holding her closer. "Door locked because I'm seriously tired of your brother walking in while we're making out. I'm going to start thinking that he's pulling a GTV on us."

"That would be disgusting if he was and it's locked so no worries," she told him. "Before we commence with the lusting and making out-"

"You say it like that's a bad thing," Chris said, "but that's how we got together. If we hadn't had sex that first day, then we never would have talked, I'd still be with Jessica, you'd be sitting on Paul's lap and wouldn't we much unhappier."

"Yes, yes, I get it," Stephanie said, "will you let me finish?"

"I shall."

"I love you," she told him, giving him a soft smile. "Okay, so there, I said it, I mean it and it's out there. I figured that it was time I said it, we've been together for a while, I see us together for the foreseeable future and I think it was the right time."

"Are you finished making this clinical and business-like?" he asked, the grin threatening to burst from his face.

"Yes," she nodded.

"Good, because I love you too," he told her. "And I feel like it was the right time for me to say it."

"Oh thank God, I was so scared you wouldn't say it back."

"You were?"

"Well, it took us so long to realize we were even in a relationship, I thought it might take you a while to identify this feeling."

"No, Steph, I'm pretty damn sure about this one."


	21. Chapter 21

"So how are you going to find out Jessica's phone number, I don't think that asking Chris is necessarily going to work."

"I know that, Kurt," Paul said snidely. "I guess I'll just have to ask around."

"Ask around?" Kurt asked incredulously. "You're just going to ask around? I'm not sure you know this, but that could be a little bit obvious."

Sometimes, Paul wanted to slap the taste from Kurt's mouth. The guy was pushy, annoying and just plain dumb sometimes. He almost wished he'd gone into this plan himself. But he needed Kurt there was the buffer. The plan at the end was, if things went bad, to blame Kurt for everything. Kurt was married so it wasn't like he could have Stephanie in the first place. If he implicated Kurt, that left Stephanie open for him and him alone.

"It won't be obvious, I've got it all worked out, okay," Paul said, "now just don't worry about it, I've got this one, just be your normal, doofy self and don't draw any attention."

"Fine, fine," Kurt said, not really wanting to get involved in this. He definitely wanted Chris and Stephanie to break up though. He'd perfected the story about his wife leaving him and once he let Paul do all the work, he was going to be the one reaping all the benefits. Stephanie had shown interest in him before and if he was right (and he usually was) attraction didn't just go away. Sure, she _said_ she was with Chris, but the way she acted around him was no joke. He would bank on that later.

"Good, I'll check in with you later," Paul said before he wandered off. There was a list of people he had in his head he could potentially ask about Jessica. If he just got a last name, he could probably locate her. That was all he needed, a last name. If he could get her actual number, that would just be the icing on the cake.

The first person he came across that could possibly know about Jessica was Dean Malenko. He walked up to the name and tapped him on the shoulder. Dean turned around abruptly and gave him the once over, looking at him like he was beneath him or something. This irked Paul, but he didn't say anything. "What do you want?" Dean asked gruffly.

"You're friends with Chris, right?"

"What's it to you?" Dean answered the question with another question.

"Well, he was with this girl a while back, Jessica, I was just hoping to get her last name or her phone number," Paul told him.

"What the hell you want that for?"

"I thought she was cute and since Chris is dating Stephanie, I thought…"

"Yeah, right, I don't know anything about her," Dean said, "you're barking up the wrong tree."

"Okay, well, thanks," Paul said, walking away. Well, that was a monumental failure. He should have known better though. Dean was a sharp guy and a tough one. He probably didn't even care about whom other guys dated and he wouldn't have known much about Jessica anyways he was sure.

He needed someone who was a little more…gossipy. Someone who wouldn't look at him like he was crazy. Someone who could be easily manipulated into doing what he wanted. That person came in the form of Adam Copeland and Paul nodded as he spied the man talking with a production assistant. He patiently waited until Adam was done and alone before he walked over, trying to appear genial and friendly. He'd never really hung out with Adam before, they didn't exactly run in the same circles, but he seemed friendly with everyone else so he figured that this could work.

"Hey, Adam, what's up?" Paul said, again trying to be friendly.

"Uh hey, Paul," Adam said, looking a little confused, but still maintaining that nice demeanor he was so known for. "Nothing much, what's going on with you?"

"Yeah, I guess I needed to ask you for a favor," Paul said, "I know it's going to sound weird and you absolutely don't have to do it if you don't want to. I just…God, I know I'm going to sound so stupid…"

"Well, what is it and I'll see if I can help you out?" Adam asked. This was playing right into Paul's hands.

"Well, I know that Chris was with this girl, Jessica, before he was with Stephanie and well, I kind of thought she was cute and since Chris seems happy with Stephanie, I didn't think he would mind if I might…look her up or something. I just thought that maybe I could see if she'd like to go out to dinner or something."

"Why don't you just ask Chris then?" Adam wondered. "I'm sure he'd be happy to give you her number."

"I thought of that, but then I figured, you know, ex-girlfriend and everything, it might be a touchy subject and there are all those rules, I mean, I would definitely tell him before I asked her out or if I did go out with her and liked being with her. It wouldn't be very cool to bother him with it if I go out with her and nothing happens. But if I like her, then I would tell him so it wouldn't be weird."

"Okay," Adam said, not quite getting Paul's point, but whatever, it wasn't his problem if Paul was a creep, "I know her name is Jessica Lockhart and I'm pretty sure she's from Minnesota, if that helps, I don't really have her number or anything."

"Thank you so much," Paul said, clapping him on the shoulder. "You're doing me a huge favor, I owe you one, buddy."

"Yeah, okay," Adam said as the grin on Paul's face widened. Adam shook his head and wondered what that was all about. He didn't trust Paul any more than he could throw him. There was always something so underhanded about everything he did even when he probably didn't mean to. Adam believed it was because Paul wanted as much power as he could get his grubby, little hands on. The desire for power was a dangerous thing indeed.

Adam decided he better tell Chris and Stephanie about this himself and sought out Stephanie's locker room. The perk of dating the boss's daughter was that she had her own space. Chris still kept his stuff in the men's locker room, but it must be nice to have somewhere to go to get away from everyone. What Adam wouldn't give for that, but he'd have to reach Undertaker levels of power to get it. He didn't mind though, he liked the guys. He found the door that held the pink printed sign that said "Stephanie McMahon" in a cute font on it and knocked on the door, hearing Stephanie's giggling behind it.

"Just a second!" she called out and Adam rolled his eyes, not wanting to know what was going on behind closed doors. A few seconds later, Stephanie opened the door, Chris behind her, his arms banded around her waist and his chin resting against her shoulder, the both of them looking sickeningly happy. If Adam wasn't in his own lovey-dovey relationship, he might be more disgusted.

"Hey, Adam, what's up?" Stephanie asked as she elbowed Chris when he tried to kiss her neck, "Chris, stop!"

"You two, I swear," he said, "anyways, can I come in and talk to you both?"

"Yeah, sure," Stephanie said, elbowing Chris again so he would move backwards and allow entrance to Adam. Adam stepped inside as Stephanie closed to the door. "What's going on? This sounds kind of serious and if it's business-related, you're barking up the wrong tree because I don't have much power around here."

"It's not that," Adam said, turning around and leaning against the back of the couch in the room. He'd love a couch in their locker room. He briefly wondered if the women had a couch in theirs since women's bathrooms always seemed to have couches. He bet they did have a couch in their locker room. "It's more about something that just happened."

"What just happened?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah and can you make it quick, I have to pretend to hate Stephanie out there tonight and I need to get a lot out of my system before that happens," Chris said lecherously.

"Chris, stop it, you're even grossing me out now," Stephanie laughed. "Seriously though, Adam, what's going on?"

"Well, I was just standing in the hallway and Paul comes up to me-"

"Paul Levesque?" Stephanie clarified.

"Yeah, anyways, he said that he wanted to know Jessica's phone number-"

"Like my ex-girlfriend, Jessica?" Chris wondered.

"Yeah, would you guys let me finish, geez," Adam scoffed, "anyways, Paul comes up to me and he says that he wants to ask me this favor, but if it's too weird or whatever, then never-mind, but he says that he thought Jessica was cute and wanted to ask her out. He asked if I knew her last name or her phone number and he said that if he went out with her once and liked her, he would tell you about it, but if he went out with her and didn't like her, then he wouldn't tell you as it would be a one time thing. Something about the whole thing just doesn't seem right though. I don't know, it just…it didn't feel right."

"Thanks for letting us know," Chris said, "that is weird. I mean, the guy barely saw Jessica to begin with and suddenly he wants to ask her out, months later."

"He said that it was because you seemed happy with Stephanie so he figured that you wouldn't mind if he was with Jessica, which, again, didn't sound truthful to me."

"Yeah, that doesn't sound like Paul at all," Chris said.

"He's not _that_ bad, you guys," Stephanie interjected. "I mean, yes, he's a little intense, but he's never really been a horrible guy to me. When I told him that I just wanted to be friends, he took it really well and he hasn't tried to pull anything on me again. He's respected my relationship with Chris and everything. Maybe he really did just like Jessica and thought she was cute and if that's the case, you're not with her anymore, Chris, so I don't really see the problem."

"Steph, oh my God, don't you see what he's doing?" Chris said, pulling away from Stephanie and running his hands through his hair, pulling it back into a ponytail, a calming maneuver for him.

"No, I can't, should I?"

"He's upset because you rejected him, now he's trying to pull some elaborate plan and he's trying to get Jessica involved in it."

"No!" Stephanie shook that idea off. "He wouldn't do that."

"Stephanie, I agree with Chris," Adam said. "Paul is just…don't you ever think he's really just kind of…creepy in a way. I mean, the guy is so…I can't even explain it. He's weird and I don't think that he has the best intentions here."

"You both think, honestly, that he would try something to get back at me?"

"I don't think it's to get back _at_ you," Adam told her and Chris nodded in agreement, "if you rejected him and now you're with Chris, maybe he's jealous?"

"Adam, did you know previously about my rules?"

"Rules?"

"My dating rules?"

"Wait, those were _real_?" Adam said. "I mean, I heard guys say about how you wouldn't date wrestlers because you were above them or something, but…you're dating Chris and he's a wrestler, so I thought that was just bogus or something."

"It wasn't because I thought they were below me, I just didn't want anyone using me for my last name, but if you knew about them or at least somewhat about them, then Paul had to have at least heard about them and I guess when I started dating Chris and then…"

"See it now?" Chris asked.

"But he wouldn't, I mean, maybe we're all blowing this out of proportion," she reasoned desperately. She didn't want to think of Paul as capable of hurting her like that.

"Stephanie, I love you, but you're being too trusting in this situation," Chris told her, kissing her cheek. "I think Adam is right and that Paul is up to something. Thanks for telling us, man, I would hate to think of him trying something and then…I guess he wants Stephanie for himself. He probably thinks if she bends the rules for me, then she will for him. He's said in the past that he thought you guys had off-screen chemistry."

"I just hate thinking he's such a bastard," Stephanie sighed.

"I know, but he is and we'll deal with him," Chris told her gently.

"I guess."

"If he thinks he's breaking us up, he's got another thing coming to him."


	22. Chapter 22

"I need to talk to Jessica."

"You need to what now?" Stephanie asked, leaning her head back as her chin met her chest and she looked up at him with this gray-blue eyes of steel.

"I need to talk to Jessica. If Paul is set on breaking us up and using her to do it, then I think I need to talk to her."

"Why?" she asked, shrugging her shoulders and looking at him. "It's not like he even has her last name, I don't think Adam mentioned that he gave it to her so how is he going to look her up. It's not like he has her number readily available."

"He's not an idiot," Chris told her. "I'm sure that he could find a way to get it. Then he calls her up and what next, she gets in on this and we don't know if he's with anyone."

"We don't even know if he's planning something," she protested. "So I don't see why there is any reason to go to anyone, let alone Jessica of all people."

"You're honestly upset about this?" he asked incredulously, looking down at her from his standing position. "You're sitting there, right now, telling me that this is honestly bothering you that I want to go talk to Jessica."

"I never said that," she protested even if that was exactly what it was. She wasn't going to let Chris know that though. She had her pride and one thing she did not give up was her pride. She'd grown up believing and absorbing the fact that you should never give up that one thing. If anything, you went away from whatever you faced with your dignity intact. This was no exception.

"But I know you, Stephanie."

"Oh yeah, you know me so well that you don't even know when you're dating me," she said, saying something she regretted immediately, not only because of the implications that it set on their relationship, but also because she'd been just as oblivious and she counted the seconds until he responded in kind.

"Like you didn't," he was right on cue with that one. "Don't even try to use that as an argument. I can't believe this is honestly something that bothers you. I haven't been with Jessica in a very long time and I dumped her so I could be with _you_. I love _you_ or have you forgotten that somewhere along the line."

"I don't want you talking to her," she insisted. "I don't see a reason to bring her into this, especially when we don't know what Paul's intentions are. He very well could have thought she was cute, you did. I'm sure you won't be questioning your own taste in women when your girlfriend is sitting right here."

"I can't believe you are so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."

"I can't believe you can't believe that," she told him, standing up. "Yes, I'll admit, he was a little pushy when he wanted to date me and I'll admit that it was a little off-putting, but when I very clearly set the boundaries up, he was fine with that, he never said anything."

"Because you know what goes on in his head, yes."

"No, I don't, but we're friends and you don't do this kind of thing to friends," Stephanie shook her head. Paul might not be someone she wanted to date, but he certainly wasn't someone she considered her enemy by any means. He'd been nothing but kind to her and she didn't see why he all of a sudden would turn a switch over to evil. "This is the kind of thing I would expect from Kurt, but not from Paul."

"Then you're awfully naïve," Chris told her and she glared at him and huffed out a breath. "Stephanie, you don't know what it's really like in that locker room because one, you're one of the bosses, don't give me that look either that says you aren't, I know you think you aren't and I know you think your father gives you so little responsibility, but if you went to your father and gave him a compelling reason to fire someone, he would take it into consideration and two, you're a woman-"

"What the hell does _that_ have to do with anything?" she challenged him to say something.

"You aren't in the men's locker room," he told her, "unless there's something I should know. You don't know what goes on in there and let me tell you something about your precious Paul. He's an asshole, I know this firsthand."

"Oh yeah, you do, because you've been around him so long?"

"No, because you know what happened when I came into the company?" he said, not really asking her, but prompting her to ask what happened. She shrugged her shoulders carelessly, like she didn't really want to hear, but she knew Chris was going to tell her anyways so he might as well continue before she completely lost her patience in him. "When I first came here, he came to me, told me if there was anything I needed that I shouldn't hesitate to ask him because he was a veteran and it was the least he could do-"

"That actually sounds nice of him so I don't know where this is going…"

"Would you let me finish?" he implored her impatiently and she flourished before him. "So one day, I'm lost, can't find my way to the arena. I don't have a map, I don't have anything to help me find this damn place. I give him a call and ask if he could let me know how to get there. He laughed in my face, told me to find it myself, then hung up on me all the while his friends laughed in the background…"

"That time you were late and my dad scolded you," Stephanie whispered to herself as she recalled the event. She'd wanted to go to Chris and tell him that it was okay, but she'd hesitated because of Jessica, which brought them around to the original problem: Jessica.

"That's exactly the time, so yeah, I can believe that he'd do something this low," Chris said. "I don't want to shatter this pristine image you have of him, but it's the truth."

"I don't want you talking to her."

"You can't tell me what to do, you know that, right?" he told her. "I may love you and believe me, I do, Steph, even now when you are being _impossible_, I love you."

"You loved her too."

He sighed. He was finally starting to break through into what the real problem was. It wasn't that Paul was a stand-up guy that would never do anything to hurt her; it was the fact that Chris willingly wanted to go talk to someone that he had cared about and been with for a considerable amount of time. It didn't help that the time was sandwiched in between encounters with Stephanie wherein she had given him her number and he had thrown it away into the trash and never thought of it again until he saw her in person with Jessica on his arm.

But what had Stephanie expected? She knew the nature of their relationship. She knew that the sex had really been just that those first couple times. There were no dates, no promises of forever or eternity or soulmates. She had been totally on board with a couple sexual encounters that happened to happen. But then, when he thought clearly about it, hindsight put spins on things that you hardly could expect while living them. Maybe Stephanie looked back and regretted that she hadn't at least tried for something more instead of losing time with him.

"I didn't love her."

"Except you did."

"She was a distraction," he insisted and in a lot of ways she was. He could have hindsight too and there were many times when he saw Stephanie and wanted her in ways he couldn't explain, but the pull of Jessica had reined him in and he'd tried to press down those feelings for Stephanie.

"Chris, you had the choice and you chose her in the beginning, okay," Stephanie said.

"Do you think I could possibly choose her again?" he asked and when she didn't answer, he gave a strangled sound of disbelief. "Wow, I can't believe that this is what it's come to. So you just don't trust me at all, huh? You don't believe my feelings for you, is that it? Because I wanted to go talk to Jessica and warn her that Paul might come, tell her that if she was going to manipulate us, not to bother because it wasn't going to make a difference?"

"Look at how we started…"

"Yeah, so what?"

"So what! I had sex with you after knowing you for twenty minutes!"

"Yeah, so what?" he repeated.

"I dated you for months and was so stupidly blind, you were just as stupidly blind to it all. You had no idea, you didn't know your feelings, I didn't either until it slapped us in the face and even then we were wondering if it was all real-"

"Which it is…"

"We're fickle," she said, "I'm afraid of being fickle."

"You're afraid of _me_ being fickle is what you're saying. That's why you were so upset that night at that bar, when you saw me and Jessica talking. You thought that I was still with her, that I could be such a jerk as to string you both along. Or you thought that I was fickle enough to choose her at the same time."

She looked away and he nodded. That was what it was about. Their past was usually a joke to them, but they had to face the fact that they had a relationship that was built on ignorance. They'd been ignorant to the entire buildup of their relationship. There was no awkward period of getting to know each other, there was no getting used to someone's quirks, there was no nervousness about the first time they slept together, there was none of that because it had happened when they weren't looking. Chris tilted his head and scratched it with his left hand, trying to think of a way to talk to her without upsetting her.

"I know my feelings now," he told her, taking a few steps forward and grabbing both of her hands. He sat them both down on the couch. "You don't have to think of Jessica as some sort of threat because she's not. Me talking to my ex-girlfriend serves no other purpose than to make sure whatever Paul is planning does not come to fruition. I love _you_, Stephanie. Yeah, it took me a while to see it only because I didn't let myself see it. That doesn't mean it wasn't there because I look back and it was there. It was there every moment, even the moments I thought didn't matter. Like when Kurt used you like he did, while I was angry and still am over what he did to you, there was a part of me that was relieved because it meant I wouldn't lose you. I didn't want to lose you then and I'm not about to lose you now. I'm not letting Paul get between us."

"He wouldn't either way, whatever he pulls, whatever he tries, it wouldn't work on me…if you feel the same way about me, you wouldn't need to go to Jessica," Stephanie said, "because you wouldn't do anything even if she tried."

"But we just don't know what Paul is capable of doing," he told her.

"I don't think he's going to go act like a raging lunatic and drug you or something."

"I would hope not," he told her with a short laugh, "or else we've been grossly underestimating his evil villain quota."

"I love you," she told him.

"I know, which is why I'm doing this. I'm not losing you, you can't make me, _they_ can't make me, nobody can make me," Chris said. "They will have to drag me forcibly from your side to take me away from you, forcibly, kicking and screaming and, if I have to marry you to ensure they can't take me away, I'll do it right now."

"That was the world's worst proposal," she told him, but she had visibly relaxed and was laughing now and that was what he wanted to see.

"Well good thing it wasn't a real one," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "If you don't want me to see Jessica, I won't go see her."

"Can I think about it?" she asked.

"Absolutely," he nodded.

"Okay," she said, pulling him into her arms. "Was that our first fight?"

"I believe it was."

"Sucked," she told him, nuzzling against his neck.

"Fighting will usually do that," he told her, his voice muffled as he buried his face in her soft, brown waves. She had yet to curl them for the evening and he loved when it wasn't a rat's nest.

"Well, there is one thing left to do then," she told him, pulling away and smirking at him.

"Hmm?" he asked, dazed by the way her eyes had darkened considerably.

"Make up."


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: I'm not completely in love with this chapter, but I think it's more of a set-up than anything else. Either way, I hope you enjoy. :)

* * *

"Have I told you how much I like working with you?"

"Um, yeah, you have, what about it?" Stephanie asked as she looked over at Paul. He was giving her a smile and she looked at him warily. Ever since Adam had come to them to tell them what was going on with Paul, Stephanie had felt uncomfortable working with him. Unfortunately, they were in a major storyline together, one that Stephanie was running, and she couldn't just ask her father to drop the entire thing. It was too important to her career.

"I just wanted to say it," Paul told her, reaching out and squeezing her arm. Stephanie gently pulled away, trying not to be obvious about it, but also not trying to be too subtle. Paul didn't seem to pick up on it though.

She was still on edge about what Adam had told her and Chris about Paul and him asking for Jessica's number. Chris had eventually come around to her side and decided that he didn't need to call Jessica. He conceded that Stephanie had been right in that if they really, truly loved each other then nothing Paul could do would pull them apart. Stephanie was glad that he'd seen her side of things because she really didn't want him to go see Jessica. She was in the past.

It wasn't that she didn't trust Chris around Jessica, it wasn't that at all, but Stephanie kind of hated how she and Chris had started. She didn't regret sleeping with him that first day or the second time they met or all those other times. But they'd been such fools, blinded by lust that they couldn't see what was really there and right smack dab in the middle of that was Jessica. Chris had been with her to try and stave off whatever he felt for Stephanie and then to dump Jessica, it made her feel a little bad that she'd been so into Chris's mind that he'd treated Jessica in crappy fashion. It wasn't a great image for her.

"Well, thanks, I guess."

"I mean, the two of us as the reigning couple around here, it's great. I don't think people expected it, but I really think it works," Paul said with a definitive nod. "It makes us really scary. Although I really think we were scarier on our own without your dad or your brother, but what can you do?"

"I don't know," she tried to keep her answers short because she would rather be anywhere but here, but she had to go over the script with Paul and she couldn't do that if she was constantly avoiding him. Chris had needed to meet with his opponents for the evening and they didn't have a scene together tonight so they couldn't have their own "meeting."

"I mean, who would have thought we'd be so great onscreen? I think our chemistry is through the roof, don't you?"

Was he still talking? She didn't think her chemistry with Paul was anywhere near her chemistry with Chris, but she didn't say that to him. Her and Chris had this dynamic energy that people were really starting to pick up on. She liked it and she thought they worked really well as adversaries, especially considering they were together in real life.

"It's a good chemistry," she told him.

"I think we make a believable married couple," Paul said. Yes, he was being blatant in his attempt to get Stephanie onto his side, but he had reached a dead end when it came to Jessica. Nobody seemed to even know her last name, at least not anyone he talked to and he couldn't figure out any other way to get her name or number without going to one of Chris's friends and one of Chris's friends was bound to tell Chris about it. Paul didn't know that someone had already gone to Chris about it.

That was working against him because Stephanie knew what was going on. He didn't know this so he kept trying to get her to see that they were much better suited than Chris and her. He didn't know what she could see in that guy. He was barely scratching the surface of the main event and he would never be as popular as Paul was. Sure, Paul's popularity was because he was a bad guy and that took a bit of a hit, but it didn't matter. He was still one of the best in the business and Stephanie was associating herself with some sub-par wrestler.

"I guess so," Stephanie said, going over the script now. "It's pretty cut and dry here. We just talk for a bit, then we have the match, so I'm not really sure that we need to go over anything else. I think I'll head out."

"You should stay," he said quickly. "We never get to just hang out anymore since you and Chris started dating…or, I mean, when you guys revealed you were dating, what was up with that anyways? I mean, why would you guys need to hide?"

Stephanie couldn't believe he was going there. His plot was starting to get more and more clear to her. Where she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt before, she just couldn't anymore. It was so obvious he wanted her and Chris apart. She didn't understand her appeal though. Was it her name? Was it true everything she had feared for all those years? Was everyone just hovering around her because they thought she could do them favors? She was so glad that Chris wasn't like that. Chris rested on his own laurels and everything he did was because he did it, not because she had the in. She smiled at the thought of him. She wanted to find him right now and just hug him. That would be the first thing she did when she saw him next.

"Because I decided a long time ago that I didn't trust wrestlers. That I didn't trust anyone who could use me for my name. I wanted to make sure that Chris wasn't like the hordes of other guys who hit on me or took me out who only wanted to date me because I have McMahon tacked onto the end of my name."

"I don't think you give people enough credit. You're pretty incredible. I know that if I were dating you, it would be just for you because you're an amazing person and whoever doesn't see that is crazy. Maybe because it took you months to see that Chris wasn't like that means that he kind of is."

"Or maybe it's because I didn't care what other people thought about us and maybe if people opened their eyes they would've seen that we were together," Stephanie said. It was no lie that she and Chris had never actively tried to hide their relationship, even when it was just physical. It was just people didn't seem to see it, but they shared a room for months and nobody even gleaned onto the fact they were sleeping together. Maybe if people had, Chris and Stephanie would have realized they were in an actual relationship that much sooner.

"I guess that makes sense," he said slowly. "How are you guys?"

"Fantastic," Stephanie said as she gazed over the script again, "absolutely fantastic."

"Someone must be describing me."

Stephanie looked up and was so relieved to see that Chris had just walked into catering and spotted them. She stood up and hugged him, just holding him. Chris could sense she was bothered by something and he hugged her back. She continued to hold onto him, burying her face into his neck and taking a deep breath. Chris pulled away finally and gave her a kiss, giving her a look asking what was up. Stephanie darted her eyes in Paul's direction and Chris immediately knew. He winked at her and then sat down at the table, pulling Stephanie into his lap.

"What's up, man?" Chris asked as he rubbed Stephanie's back.

"Nothing," Paul said shortly.

"What were you guys talking about?" Chris wondered.

"Just about our storyline," Stephanie told him, "about how things were working out. I think that we were done here though, weren't we, Paul?"

"Yeah, I guess I'll see you later," Paul muttered, getting up and walking away.

"So what was that really about?" Chris asked her, looking up at her curiously. He took much delight in the fact that Paul seemed to be very angry about something. With his actions towards him and Stephanie, Chris liked knowing that he could get under his skin just by being around.

"He was asking questions about us and trying to make me see that he and I were much better suited and that our chemistry was through the roof," Stephanie said with a roll of the eyes. "He's being so obvious about it. You were absolutely right, he wants me. He wants to use me I'm sure, but he definitely wants me. I guess you and Adam were right, he's a jerk. I'm just sorry it took me this long to really see it."

"But the fact is that you saw it," he told her, "so do you want to do something about it then?"

"Yeah, I do want to do something about it. I don't take too kindly to people trying to interfere in my personal life, even going so far as to contact other people to do their dirty work for them. I don't know why he thinks I'll just fall into his arms."

"Because he thinks he's God's gift to women, that's why," Chris told her. "He thinks that he's so great that you should just be with him."

"He's a pig," Stephanie scoffed. "I would never want to be with him. I don't understand why men think that just because I'm something in a position of power that I'm automatically just going to fall into their arms. Why do guys think like that? What do they think they're going to gain by being with me?"

"You're great in bed," he told her and she groaned as he laughed at her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but you really set yourself up for that one. Stephanie, you know this business is all about politics. You could be the greatest wrestler in the world, but if you don't play by the crazy rules back here, then you won't get anywhere."

"You play by the rules?"

"Yes, I play by the rules," he nodded. "When I came into the company, I made sure to be polite to everyone, I introduced myself to the main eventers, I made sure that I was seen and that people knew I was being respectful. But there you are, this tantalizing piece of bait and if someone is with you, they don't have to go through all of that. All they have to do is be with you and they can get whatever they want. It's just a shame that your father had a daughter so people could try and take advantage of you."

"So why don't you? Aren't I this piece of bait to you?"

"Nah," he shrugged. "I don't like to cheat like that. Besides, half the time I was sleeping with you and had no clue I had any kind of benefit so why shouldn't I remain clueless to what you can do for me now?"

She laughed, "So do we actually get back at Paul? Do we really think of something that will get him away from me?"

"That's all up to you," Chris said, "I mean, if the guy tries to take you away from me, then we're going to have a problem, but he's not the one hitting on me, if he's really bothering you, I can take care of it right now."

"We can't, we still have to work with the guy, but there has to be some way that we can make it very clear that whatever he is doing is not going to work. Why can't he just understand that I'm not interested?"

"Because his brain is smaller than his nose?" Chris suggested.

"You're terrible," she said, but leaned in to kiss him. "Thank you for not being like all the rest of them."

"How do you know I'm not just getting you to trust me and then I'm going to be demanding title shots and title reigns and twenty minutes every night to speak to the crowds?"

"Because you already have my trust so you've missed the boat."

"Damn it," Chris said, then nodded his head behind him. "Look, there's jealous guy #2."

"Who?" Stephanie looked over her shoulder at Kurt, who was looking over at them. "Oh God, don't remind me of that debacle."

"Sorry, focus on your spectacular boyfriend some more," Chris told her. She smiled and leaned down to kiss him again. "Oh, we're giving him a show now?"

"Shut up, Chris."

"I was just wondering," he protested. "You know, if you want to get back at them for trying to get back at us for whatever slight they think we did to them, I'm totally game if you are. In fact, it could be kind of fun, putting our heads together and thinking up some scheme."

"You're too much," Stephanie said, but then she looked over at Kurt.

"He really hurt you, huh?" Chris asked softly. There was no malice in his voice. He couldn't be angry about a time when he didn't even know he had feelings for Stephanie.

"I just hate that he suckered me. I like to think I'm fairly intelligent and I fell for every single one of his tricks."

"Then you know what, babe?"

"What?" Stephanie asked.

"Let's make him fall for one of ours."


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Hope you enjoy. :)

* * *

"Brainstorm!"

"I'm not in the mood," Stephanie said as she sunk deeper into the mattress, cocooning herself in its warmth as she cuddled up to Chris. "I just want to lie here with you, I don't want to think of plans. I just want to think about you."

"Wow, so sex with me makes you extremely calm, good to know," Chris said, "also, when did you go shopping at your magical underwear shop?"

Stephanie laughed, "You liked them?"

"I have a thing for your underwear," he told her in a smarmy tone as he thought about her underwear, a cute blue with little campfires all over it that said "warm me up" right underneath it. He had taken her underwear's advice and warmed her right up until she was sated next to him. He smiled at his handy work.

"I know, that's why I continue to buy them," Stephanie told him, pressing a kiss to his chest. "So do we really have to get out of the bed for the rest of the day? I'm so content to just lie here and do nothing with you. We can just order a pizza and watch TV."

"When did we become the old married couple? Where's the girl who couldn't even wait two hours to get me naked?" Chris asked as he smirked down at her, smirking even more when he saw her cheeks redden a little. He loved that he could get her to blush over that even though at the time, she'd been doing anything but blushing. "Oh come on, why are you so shy now? You weren't shy that first time were you?"

"I was possessed, I can't be held accountable for my actions," she told him with a laugh in her voice.

"Oh, yeah, you were possessed with the desire to get in my pants," he kissed the top of her head. Then he indulged her because he loved her so much, "Okay, if you want to spend the rest of the day in bed, I think we can do that."

"You're the best," Stephanie said, "I just want to lay here with you."

"Even though we were supposed to go out to dinner with Jay, Adam, and Paul."

"Oh yeah, why did you even agree to that?" Stephanie asked. "I still want to stay in bed. We've got the whole weekend off, we can go out with them later."

"Fine, I'll cancel," he said, "and I wanted to go out because while I've been messing around with you so much, I've kind of neglected this little thing called friendship. All my friends feel like I haven't been around, of course, before, they didn't know why, but now they know that I've got an old ball and chain."

"Old?"

"Young, hot, smoking ball and chain," Chris amended himself quickly.

"Well, God, when you put it like that, you make it sound as if being with me is a burden," Stephanie told him, sitting up and letting the sheet she had around herself fall to the bed. She was completely topless and it took all of Chris's restraint not to let his eyes wander down to her breasts. "Is that all I am to you?"

"You really shouldn't answer the door for the pizza dressed like that, so you know," he told her. "Although, it might result in a free pizza."

"You didn't answer my question," she folded her arms in front of her and looked down at him, trying to keep up the persona of being angry with him. She had a difficult time with it though because Chris was wearing an adorably open look on his face, his arms folded behind his head now.

"You, a burden? I'm getting laid on a regular basis…wait, I was getting laid without ever being with you," he teased, then pulled her back towards him, crashing his lips into hers as he wrapped his arms around him. "I'd much rather spend the night in bed with you. I just want to let other people know I'm alive."

She laughed against his lips, pulling away so she could see into his face. "Well, we can do this thing tomorrow, I'll even be nice and I won't go with you."

"You don't mind staying here alone?" He asked. It was one thing to leave them alone when they were at the hotel or something, but they were at his house and she was his guest and it felt rude to leave her there by herself without knowing anyone in the area well enough to go out.

"Of course I don't. You have two cars so if I want to go out and get food, I can, you have a million different movies, oh, there's the little fact that I'm an adult," Stephanie told him. "I don't mind being alone."

"But you're my guest," he protested.

"Yeah, I'm your guest, but I'm also your girlfriend. I plan to spend a lot of time here so I better get used to it…until you make the decision to move up to Connecticut," she told him, biting her lip. "Wait, that wasn't an invitation to move in with me or anything, just that in the future it might become an option."

"I know what you mean, I understand you," he winked at her. "It only took me a while, but I understand you."

She laughed, "I want you to go out with your friends, let them see that I haven't sunk my claws that deep into you."

"Speaking of being deep into you," Chris said as he flipped Stephanie over. "Let's not brainstorm and just get back to the fun."

It turned out that neither one of them would brainstorm about anything dealing with Paul. Instead, they spent their home time together because they were what was important. In the end, Paul wasn't important to them and they could always deal with them later. Chris was still apprehensive about leaving Stephanie alone. He knew she didn't mind, but she was his girlfriend, in a new city, and he just felt bad leaving her. If it wasn't for her nearly pushing him out the door, he probably would have found an excuse to stay.

"Why are you so hellbent on getting rid of me?" Chris asked as Stephanie handed him his car keys. "Are you having someone over?"

"No, but a girl needs a little alone time every now and then," she said.

"Oh, well if you need porn to fuel your alone time-"

"You're disgusting," Stephanie told him, "I'm just going to order some takeout, then pig out in front of the TV and then you'll come back and find me in a food coma, just lying amongst Chinese takeout boxes, an eggroll clutched in my hand."

He laughed and kissed her, "Have fun, be safe."

"I will be," she told him, giving him another kiss.

It was nice to go out with the guys again. He was better friends with Paul after knowing him from WCW, but he'd known Adam and Jay from years before when they'd found themselves working for the same company in Canada for a few months. Still, getting out of the house, hanging out with the guys, it was something he needed. He loved Stephanie beyond measure, but he couldn't circulate his entire life around being with her. That didn't mean he couldn't talk about her though.

"So Stephanie and I are thinking of pranking Paul," Chris said as they were shooting pool in a local sports bar.

"Pranking him?" Paul asked. "Why, what did he do other than be the same jackass he always is?"

"He's trying to break them up," Adam supplied as he took a swig of his beer. "He came up to me and asked me for Chris's ex's number, probably to come up with some sort of plan to break them up."

"Seriously?" Paul asked.

"That's what we suspect," Chris said, "I think he's jealous of our relationship. He asked out Stephanie, but we were together at that point and she turned him down and he can't seem to get it in his head that she doesn't want to be with him."

"So he's going to try to break you up?" Jay asked. "God, he's such an asshole. This would be right up his alley though. He's always trying to get his way. That's what everyone says anyways. I heard he's been trying to get in on production meetings."

"He is. Steph's in charge of our storyline right now and he keeps trying to horn in on it."

"So what are you guys going to do?" Paul asked.

"I don't know yet. We haven't really thought about it too much, what we're going to do. We were supposed to brainstorm yesterday, but we got preoccupied," Chris said with a knowing look to the guys hanging around the table. They all groaned. "What? I can't even brag about my girl now?"

"No, you can't brag about your girl now," Adam said, "we've all got girls and you don't see us going around and talking about them, which, hey, if Stephanie is spending time down here now, you should have her come out with our girls, she's met Alannah, she's Morley's sister and she's been around. Alannah could introduce her to Denise and Melissa."

"Denise always wants new friends," Jay added.

"I'll bring it up with her," Chris nodded, liking the idea of her having friends down here. "So do you guys have any ideas what we should do with Paul…or for that matter, Kurt? He's been trying to get back in her good graces after that shit he tried to pull."

"Yeah, what the hell was that about? Why did she agree to go out with him if she was with you?" Jay asked.

"She was just going to teach him a lesson, but her dad found out and it just didn't seem right to go through with it with her dad knowing and everything," Chris lied smoothly, using the explanation he and Stephanie had agreed upon regarding that situation.

"Lying about being married, what a douche," Paul said, "you should just lock Paul and Kurt in a room together and let them go at it until they both end up bloodied and bruised."

"I like the way you think, man," Chris chuckled. "It doesn't have to be something huge, rather, I'd just like it to be something that makes it clear that Stephanie is _my_ girlfriend and not going to come running into Paul's arms any time soon."

"I don't know what you could do," Adam said with a shrug. "I mean, you could make him lose to you or something, but I know that's not really in your control since he's considered one of the biggest guys in the company right now."

"Yeah, I'm still the up-and-comer and while Vince _says_ he has total faith in me, I don't want to push it."

"You're dating his daughter though," Jay reminded him. "He can't really do anything to you."

"And I'm not with Stephanie because I want her to do things for me professionally, talk about lazy," Chris said. "I just want to tell Paul that he needs to stay away, but I want to say it in a way that gets the point across because if I don't, he's going to come up with lame plan after lame plan to take Stephanie away."

"You think that she could be the one?" Adam asked.

Chris thought about it for a moment. He and Stephanie had been together for a while now, sure the first couple times had been nearly accidental, but once he'd dumped Jessica and became somewhat exclusive (though he was clueless at the time) with her, he'd never even thought about any other women. He couldn't believe he didn't see what was going on when he was with her, but now that he was with her and knew he was with her, nobody else really came to his mind.

"She could be," Chris confessed, "but that's a little ahead of where we are."

"Why don't you just go up and tell him to leave you guys alone?" Paul asked. "I mean, that's the most direct way."

"Don't you think that he would come back with a vengeance, think that I'm not so secure in our relationship if I told him to back off?"

"Okay, you've got a point there," Paul said as he took his shot. "Paul would definitely think like that because he's like that."

"Yeah, so I have to think of some way to get him off our backs."

"Maybe you can find him someone else," Jay suggested.

"Yeah, who's going to want to date him?"

"Joanie wanted to."

Chris looked at him, "She's really weird though, like really, really weird."

"True," Adam said, "maybe pretend you break up and that Stephanie is interested in him and-"

"Yeah, I already don't like where that is going."

"Wait, Chris, just hear me out okay," Adam said, "it could work."

"Thanks, guys, but there's got to be some other way."

And he was going to find it.


	25. Chapter 25

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing, I think this is one of my favorite stories I've ever written so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. :)

* * *

"Hello, is this Jessica?"

"Yes, this is Jessica."

"Jessica Lockhart, right?"

"Yeah, that's my name, may I ask who's calling?" asked the confused woman. She didn't recognize the voice and hoped it wasn't some solicitor.

"You don't know me, at least I don't think you know me, you probably know _of_ me, but we haven't formally met."

"Okay…can I ask again who this is?" she wondered. This was just starting to get weird.

"My name is Paul Levesque," he said, "I work with your ex-boyfriend, Chris Irvine. I know that you two broke up and I was just wondering if you would want to get him back. I know you two were a pretty cute couple and I don't think he's happy with his new girlfriend and I remember him being really happy with you. You interested in getting him back?"

"I'm listening," Jessica said. "What did you have in mind? You want to break them up? Who is his girlfriend by the way?"

"Stephanie McMahon, I'm sure you've heard of her."

"I have," she said. Stephanie must have been the woman that Chris was telling her about, the girl he was attracted to, who had pretty much caused their breakup. She'd seen Stephanie and she was a very pretty girl and she could see where Chris's crush could come from.

"Yeah, well, I really like her and she's not happy with Chris and I think that she would be better off with me and I just needed some help. I was wondering if you would be interested in coming to the show sometime in the next couple weeks."

"I'd have to check my schedule and get back to you," Jessica told him, "but for what purpose would I be there? Would I be trying to get Chris back of my own accord or would you be helping me?"

"I was thinking about pretending like you and I were dating. Like I found out your number and I thought you were really cute when you came with Chris and that I sought out your number to ask you out and we've been dating for a couple weeks and I wanted to bring you to work and then it would make Chris deathly jealous because I'm pretty sure I heard him talking about you the other day when we were at a house show and how you nagged him less than Stephanie does."

"Is that so?" Jessica said smugly.

"Yeah, I heard it with my own ears and believe me, I'm trustworthy. I really think he's regretting being with Stephanie now so I thought that if you were there, he would want you back and then everyone would be happy, don't you think?"

"Well, that _does_ sound intriguing," Jessica said. "I mean, Chris and I didn't have the cleanest breakup, I always got the feeling that he was just saying things because the distance was becoming a little bit of a chore. But if we were to get back together, I guess that could be worked out."

"See, it's a good idea, right?"

"And you like this Stephanie girl?"

"Yeah, I really do. I think we'd be as good together as you are with Chris," Paul told her as he grinned. He couldn't believe this was going so well. Jessica must really be a sucker for that Irvine guy if she was willing to do this with him. She was probably a gold-digger though, leeching onto anyone with a little bit of cash. She looked like the sleazy type.

"Well, I'm all for true love and all that," Jessica said. "Let me just check like I said and then I'm sure I can get back to you and we can set something up, do you mind if I get your phone number so that I can call you?"

"Of course, of course," he said, then rattled off his phone number. "I hope that you'll get back to me soon. I really want to be with Stephanie. I think I've been in love with her for a long time and I'm just now realizing what it could be like with her and it really has me excited and I just want the chance to make her happy."

"That's really very, very sweet of you," Jessica said. "I'll get back to you, thank you for calling me, Paul. I think this was a really nice discussion we had."

"No, thank _you_, I'll talk to you later, it was really nice talking to you, Jessica."

"You too, goodbye."

Jessica hung up the phone and looked down at it for a second before she looked at his phone number. She would have to check her schedule and see if she could be available to fly into wherever this guy wanted her to go. She could just imagine going to a show and seeing the shocked look on Chris's face as she showed up on the arm of one of his coworkers. She laughed to herself as she pictured his jaw slowly dropping as she walked in the door with her best dress on and her hair styled and her makeup done. It was priceless.

Stephanie curled up next to Chris and buried her face in his neck. "Okay, I don't like this, why are we watching this?"

"I love these movies, how have you never seen Evil Dead?" he asked as he smoothed her hair down against her back.

"Because I've told you a million times that I don't like scary movies," Stephanie said then squeaked and exclaimed, "What is that tree doing!"

Chris just laughed and looked down at her. "We don't _have_ to watch if you don't want to. I'm not going to be angry if you don't want to watch this with me. It's really not so bad. You have your big, bad protector here to ward off against evil trees."

"I said I'd watch and I'm watching," she said, grimacing as she watched the scene play out on the screen. "We're just never going to ever and I mean ever going to go camping or anywhere in the woods, so you can cross that off any list of places you may take me."

"Duly noted," he said as his house phone rang. He paused the DVD and grabbed the phone, which was sitting next to him on the end table. "You have been saved by the bell. Whoa, okay, this is weird."

"What's weird?" Stephanie asked as she looked at the phone. "Jessica? Wait, Jessica as in your ex-girlfriend, Jessica, that Jessica?"

"Yeah, that's her number, I wonder what she wants," Chris said. He looked to Stephanie, who was frowning as she stared at the phone like it was suddenly made of dirt or worms or something equally vile. "You know, I don't have to answer this if you don't want me to. I can just let the machine get it and we can go back to our movie, it's entirely your call."

"No, you can answer it, you better answer it because it'll probably go to your answering machine in a second," she said, but she was too late as the machine beeped and they both heard Jessica's voice ring out throughout the living room and kitchen.

"_Chris, hey, it's Jessica, I know this is out of the blue, but I really needed to talk to you. Could you please call me back, it's actually really important and I really, really need to talk to you. It concerns…well, stuff, can you please call me back."_

"Okay, that's really weird," Chris said.

"She's not…pregnant, is she?" Stephanie asked, getting that out of the way because it was the first thing that popped into her head. She and Chris had been together for months now, but she didn't remember if she'd taken a really good look at Jessica the last time she'd seen her when they were both in that restaurant and Stephanie had mistook Chris and Jessica's talk as a date.

Chris chuckled, "No, she's not pregnant, believe me, I'd know if she was. Do you want me to call her back? She really did sound like she needed to talk. But still, it's up to you."

"You can call her back, she really did sound urgent and maybe it's something that concerns you and you need to know, you never know," Stephanie said, biting her lip. If it wasn't pregnancy, her next thought was that it involved some kind of disease and she hoped Jessica hadn't given anything to Chris, who in turn would probably give it to her since they were off condoms and she was on the pill. But then, she and Chris had been tested and both had come back clean so now she was back to square one and wondering what the hell was going on that required Chris's ex-girlfriend to call him like she was.

"Steph?"

Stephanie looked up and realized she'd been pretty much ignoring Chris. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"Yeah, I asked if you wanted me to put her on speakerphone. Are you sure you're okay?" Chris asked. "I really won't call her if you don't want me to, it doesn't matter to me what she says."

"Chris, what if she wants you back?"

"Inconsequential," Chris told her, kissing her lightly. "I'm with you now, Steph, you know this. I love you, I'm _in_ love with you and if that doesn't convince you, then I will find some other way to convince you that I'm completely devoted to you, to the point where I will go crazy if you ever leave me."

"Okay, sure, put her on speakerphone," Stephanie smiled and kissed his cheek as Chris dialed her number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jess, it's Chris. I just got your call, sorry I didn't answer the phone when you called, I was watching a movie and didn't get to it in time," he said, "but I have to wonder why you're calling, I thought…well, I don't know what I thought, but I didn't think you would be calling me."

"I didn't think I would be calling you either," she admitted, "but I just got the most interesting phone call and I thought you deserved to know."

"Phone call? About what?"

"From someone named Paul that works with you. He said that he wanted me to come down and pretend to be his girlfriend so that he could break you and your girlfriend up so that he could have a go at Stephanie, that's her name, right, and that I could get back together with you," Jessica explained. "I went along with it because honestly, I wanted to see what the hell he wanted and how far he was going to go, but we parted on better terms after we had that talk the last time you were up here and I actually have a new boyfriend so the whole thing sounded ridiculous to me from the very beginning, so what's the deal?"

"I can't believe that jerk," Chris said as he scoffed. "He's been trying to get in Stephanie's pants for months now and he won't let up. He knows we're together and he still won't let it go that she doesn't want him. He's been trying to find your phone number and I guess he found it and he wanted you to help him out. He'd been going around trying to ask for it. He's scum."

"He sounds like it," Jessica said. "I just thought you should know what he was up to because it all sounded so shady. The girl is the girl you had a crush on, right? The one you broke up with me over."

"Yeah, she is," Chris said, glancing at Stephanie, who was blushing a little and he kissed her cheek.

"Yeah, I figured it was because otherwise I might have to kick your ass for not going after her after everything with us. I don't want to break you up, I'm happier now than I was before and I figure you are too. So what do you want me to do? I told him I'd get back to him. Do you want me to call him back and tell him off?" Chris looked to Stephanie and she shrugged, not knowing what to do about Hunter, but knowing she wanted to get some measure of revenge on the bastard who would go so far out of his way to break her up with the man she loved.

"Actually, Jess, I've got something else in mind…if you're willing."

"Lay it on me, Chris."


	26. Chapter 26

A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm kind of in love with this story so I hope you are too and I hope you enjoy the chapter, let me know what you think! :)

* * *

"What is so great about me?"

"This feels like a trick question," Chris said slowly, looking up from the book he'd been reading on his couch. Stephanie was sitting on the other end, a notebook in her lap, in which she had been writing down ideas for their storyline. Every once in a while she would hand it over to him for his inspection and he would smile and hand it back to her, not really saying anything because she was just brainstorming.

"It's not a trick question," she told him.

"It feels like it though, like if I say something that you don't like, you're going to get mad at me," Chris looked at her suspiciously, but with a twinge of playfulness as well. She stuck her middle finger up at him and he nodded sagely. "Yes, just as I thought, a trap."

"It's not a trap," Stephanie shook her head, "I just don't get men…or wrestlers, or just the guys we work with. I don't get why I'm so appealing. Leave aside my name for a minute, why would a guy want me?"

"I can probably name several reasons," he told her.

"I just don't understand," she said before he could continue what he was saying. "I don't get why a guy thinks that he can date me for my name. What does he think I am, an idiot?"

"Who are we talking about here? Paul? Kurt? Or both?"

"Every guy in the entire damn company who has ever thought they would get to the top easier if they decided they wanted to get in my pants."

Chris's eyebrows knit together as he looked at her. "Can we take this back a minute, please? How often has this happened to you? You just started within the company. You've barely been here longer than I have."

"It's been going on since I was a teenager," Stephanie explained to him, which made Chris's face turn even dourer. She could tell he didn't like the thought so she reached down and rubbed around his ankle. "It's not _that_ big a deal."

"Who was it?"

"It's not a big deal anymore, Chris," Stephanie told him. "The guys who did it are no longer with the company so it really doesn't matter who they are. Let's just leave it at the fact that it's been going on for a while now."

"I want to know who I have to kill," Chris told her and there was no joking in his voice. The thought of some creepy, old man hitting on a teenager unsettled him to begin with, but when that teenager was the woman he loved, it took it to a place beyond unsettled. His mind conjured up images of a young, helpless Stephanie trying to fend off the advances of disgusting wrestlers who put their skeevy hands all over her.

"Chris, I told my dad all about it, he fired anyone who tried it with me and never hired them back so all the guys are gone, they've been taken care of," she assured him. "I just don't get why they think I have so much power I'm just going to demand they go to the top."

"I would never think that of you," he told her then realized how weird that sounded and amended his statement, "what I mean to say is that I wouldn't want to be with you just for what you could do for me and it would be really awkward for me to go up to you and start asking you to get me to the top."

"You don't need me," she waved him off, "you were well on your way to a title before you ever even met me."

"I met you before I started with the company," he reminded her.

"If WCW had even given you half a chance, you would have been the champion, period, end of story. The fact that they didn't is the travesty," she told him, which made him feel oddly good. "I mean, we could all see how great you were over there."

"You didn't even watch me over there," Chris laughed. "You told me you didn't watch WCW."

"I caught it every now and then, sometimes," he continued to stare at me, "okay, so my brother and my father saw how great you were over there, but they told me about it. I knew they thought you were really great."

"But you thought?"

"I don't know, I guess I was happy for them that they were going to persuade another guy over," Stephanie shrugged. "I mean, you know how intense this 'war' is going. Any advantage we can get over them is a good thing, don't you think?"

"You guys will win this war," Chris told her in all seriousness. "There's just no way you won't with the way you guys run the company in comparison to how Bischoff and the stooges run the company over there."

"Thanks," she smiled at him, patting him on the leg. "I don't need to have seen you to be able to tell you would have been great with the belt. I know how you wrestle now and I see it clear as day and it couldn't have been too different over there."

"It makes me feel good when you say things like that," he confessed because she was his girlfriend and he wanted her to know how happy she made him all of the time. She beamed at his words and he bit his lip to keep from beaming right back at her and starting some sort of weird standoff.

"Does it?"

"Yeah, just knowing I have someone who understands what I do and who knows how good I am at it, you don't know how good that feels. Besides Jessica, you're the only serious girlfriend I've ever had, and I like when you make me feel worthwhile."

"You seriously should have sown some wild oats."

"Oh, I did, believe me, just nothing serious to where I could lounge on a couch with my Stephen King novel and just sit silently," he referred to what they were doing before Stephanie's question. "As for what you were asking me, far beyond whatever your name brings to the table, you're just this personality."

"I'm a personality?"

"Yes, you are, you're just this crazy, wonderful, beautiful person…who has sex with a guy she's only known for twenty minutes, how is that not desirable."

"Oh, you're going to get it!" Stephanie tossed her notebook down and launched herself at Chris, laying small blows onto him as he laughed and tried to dodge her.

"See what I mean," he said in between laughs, "launching yourself right at me because you can't even keep your desire down."

Stephanie just fell into his chest, laughing.

It was not all fun and games when they had to go back to work on Monday. Stephanie had told Chris to lay off on whatever he was planning because she was hoping she could make one final plea to Paul about what was going on. Chris wasn't convinced that Paul would take to anything she said, but he was always willing to give his girlfriend the benefit of the doubt so he'd called Jessica to hold off on the plan he'd made up.

"Are you going to talk to him now or during the show or after or what?" Chris asked as they set down their things for the evening.

"No, I was going to get my hair done first, then I was going to eat, then I was thinking about talking to him, is that okay with you?" Stephanie asked and she hadn't meant it to be sarcastic, but she realized how she sounded. "I just mean, that was the plan."

"Sounds like an okay thing," he said, but she could tell he wasn't jazzed about her going to talk to Paul at all. Chris wasn't a jealous man, he'd spent too much time being clueless to be truly jealous, but he just didn't like the thought of her going by herself.

"You sure you don't want me to come?"

"He's not going to try anything," Stephanie told him. "Paul is a lot of things, but scary isn't one of them. "Besides, all I'm going to do is make sure he knows exactly where we stand. Maybe if I make it clear to him that I'm with you and want to be with you, he'll really back off and then we'd just have to tackle the asshole that is Kurt Angle."

"I trust you," Chris said, "I trust that you know what you're doing."

She came over and hugged him, "Thank you for not being all crazy, weirdo boyfriend about this. I know our relationship has been strange, but you make me so happy, I hope you know that. You are just…I don't even know."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, I know, I'm the best boyfriend ever," he hugged her back then pressed a kiss to her neck. "You better get to Jan now or else you'll be waiting forever. And Lord knows it's going to take a while to get that horrible hairdo that your character wears."

"Shut it," she told him, pressing a finger to his lips before replacing them with her lips. She left the room and left him to his own devices as she went to get her hair done. She was lucky there weren't many people around so she didn't have to wait. When Jan was done, she went to catering, grabbing a plate while looking around to see who she could eat with. She spotted Adam and Jay and decided they were as good as it was going to get. She and her tray made their way over to them and they spotted her when she was a few feet away.

"Steph, come on over," Adam said, standing up and pulling out a chair for her. She looked at him gratefully before sitting down and pulling her napkin into her lap. "How goes it?"

"I'm fine," Stephanie told them as she took her first bite of food.

"Hey, so what's happening with that whole Paul thing? Is he still bothering you?"

"I'm actually going to talk to him after I eat," Stephanie said, "I'm just going to try and tell him I'm not interested and hope he'll understand."

"Do you really think he will?" Adam asked.

"I really hope so," Stephanie said, "because he doesn't stand a chance otherwise."

Jay laughed, "I can't imagine he'd take that too well."

"Well, he's going to have to," Stephanie joked.

She had an amiable lunch with the two men before she excused herself to go find Paul's locker room. When she located it, she knocked on the door and waited for him to answer. When he did, his face lit up and she wished she could believe he was a good guy who was just misguided about his feelings, but she knew he was plotting and planning. She just hoped after they talked, he would back the hell off.

"Steph, hey, I didn't expect to see you so soon. Did you come to discuss what we're doing for the show?"

"Actually, no, I wanted to talk to you about something else," Stephanie said, "I just wanted to talk to you about us, in general us."

"Really?" he fought a smirk, but she caught it and she could only imagine what he must be thinking at that moment. If it was anything in the realm of her actually leaving the best relationship she'd ever had for him, he was sorely mistaken. She would have felt bad for it if he hadn't called Jessica. "Why don't you come in?"

Stephanie stepped into the room and stood by the door. Paul took a seat on the couch and he gestured for her to sit next to him. She nodded politely then sat down next to him. Before she could say anything, he reached out and cupped her cheek. "Paul, please—"

"It's okay, I knew you felt it too," he told her, scooting himself forward.

Stephanie scooted away before pulling his hand away from her face. "No, Paul, you misunderstand me. I wanted to make it very clear that I know you like me or you think you like me. Either way, this thing isn't going to happen. I'm very happy with Chris and I wanted us to be friends, that's it, but if that isn't even an option, so be it, we will be colleagues and nothing more."

"But…"

"Those are your options. I am with Chris, I am _in love_ with Chris. There's nothing between us," Stephanie knew she was being somewhat harsh, but she had to be in order for him to see what was going on. "We're married in the storyline only. I'm sorry if you think there was more, but there isn't and that's the end of it." Stephanie stood up to walk to the door, hoping that would be the end of it.

Instead, Paul grabbed her, turned her around, and kissed her.

Stephanie pulled away instantly and looked at him in disgust. "Stephanie, I just want you to realize."

The only thing he would realize was the feel of her hand against his cheek.


	27. Chapter 27

A/N: Thanks for the reviews and stuff, guys, I really love this story, I think it's one of my favorites, so I hope you are enjoying it. Just a small note that the anonymous reviews can now include your name in the name box like you used to be able to, so you don't have to go completely anonymous unless you want to, so just a heads up, enjoy I hope! :)

* * *

"How dare you!"

Paul almost felt like his jaw was dislocated. He moved it back and forth for a moment as he grabbed his cheek, feeling the burning sting from her hand still lingering on his skin. He dared to look up at her, and her eyes were ablaze. If she hadn't just slapped him, he would have marveled at how beautiful she looked in that moment. There was such a fire behind her gaze, one that absolutely lit up her eyes, making them almost an icy blue. Under any other circumstances, he might have gotten lost in her eyes.

"I cannot believe you just did that," she said, her voice low and almost feral in its anger. "I cannot believe you would stoop so low."

"Stephanie, you have to see what's been going on between us," Paul argued with her, trying to get her to see the light. He'd been feeling it, so he knew she must have been feeling it too. He couldn't be the only one who noticed the strong pull between them.

Chris was all wrong for her. He was too brash, too outgoing, too out there for someone like Stephanie. She deserved a guy who was grounded, someone who could settle down with her. He had grown up in a great family, just like hers really, minus the extravagant amount of money, but he came from the East Coast, the upper-middle class. He could be everything her parents probably ever wanted for her.

"What's been going on between us?" she scoffed, grunting at the audacity of his statement. "What's been going on between us is two people who are playing characters, two people who work together, and anything you _claim_ to see is manufactured inside of your head because it's certainly not out here in the real world."

"You just need to open your eyes!" he told her.

"Open my eyes to what?" she asked. "To the fact you're a jerk? I gave you the benefit of the doubt, you know, for so long I gave you that benefit, hoping you would just be my friend, but you're not my friend. You're not someone I can trust! You're not even someone I like right now."

"Stephanie, would you just listen to me?"

"No, I'm not going to listen to a damn word you have to say. I came in here to make it clear that I'm _in love_ with Chris. Do you understand that, do you need it repeated because I will do so ad nauseum until you get it into your head that this, whatever you think _this _is, is not going to happen."

"Why not?" he asked. "We have great chemistry together, even you have to see that, the crowd loves us, they think we're perfectly horrible, but we have people who think we really look good together. They see it."

"No, they see Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and Triple H. They do _not _see Paul Levesque and Stephanie McMahon," Stephanie told him, "besides, if that's the logic you want to base it on, a lot of people see the chemistry between Chris and me. So do you really want to use _that_ as one of your arguments?"

"I just don't understand why you can't give us a chance," he ran his hand through her hair. "I'm better for you, in every way. I know I'm the kind of man your parents would love to see you, I know I can be that guy for you."

"You have no idea who my parents want for me."

"They didn't want you dating a wrestler, so why is Chris the exception. He's your typical wrestler, I'm not, I'm better than that. I could prove to your parents that they're wrong about wrestlers."

Stephanie laughed. She actually grabbed her stomach and she laughed. "You're kidding me, right? You're going to bring up the whole 'not dating a wrestler' thing, that's where you want this to go?"

"It's true, everyone knew it, everyone said it."

"Well they said it wrong," Stephanie shook her head, "it was never my parents who wanted me not to date a wrestler, it was _me_ who put that in place, it was _me_ who decided I didn't, but when I met Chris, he was the exception. He is the _only_ exception because he's proven to me that he's not about my name, he just loves me for me, and that's it."

"I could be that guy, I've been that guy if you would just see me."

"I see you, and I don't like it," Stephanie shrugged. "I came in here to clear things up in the hopes that we could stay friends, and that would you understand I'm not interested or attracted to you, but I guess that was all in vain."

"Stephanie…"

"Our relationship now is strictly business, I'm glad we got that cleared up," she said coldly, throwing the door open.

She stopped in front of the door for a moment before she wiped her mouth in disgust. She was going to need to get her makeup retouched now, but she didn't care. She was fuming. It felt like there was a halo of flames around her body, that's how made she was at the moment. If she could punch the wall and not hurt her hand, it would already be breaking through sheer concrete. She could not believe Paul would actually have the disrespect to kiss her like that. She was appalled at his behavior, disgusted he would go that far knowing what he knew about her relationship with Chris.

She walked down the hallway huffily, every so often her face reddening with anger. "Steph?"

Stephanie looked up and saw her brother. He was looking at her with concern, and she felt her face soften and her jaw seemingly unhinge from the death lock it seemed to have after clenching so hard. "Oh, hey, Shane."

"What's wrong?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "You don't look well. Is everything okay?"

"I'm just really angry right now, so I'm probably not the best person to be around at the moment," Stephanie said, "I'm liable to break someone's face right now so it's probably best you don't talk to me anymore."

"Okay, that just makes me want to talk to you even more, what's going on?" Shane grabbed her arm gently and pulled her into a less crowded hallway branching off from the main hallway. He leaned down a little so he could really look into his sister's eyes, but she turned away from them, her eyes trained on the hallway, as if waiting for someone to show up and take her away from this conversation. "Is this about Chris? Did you guys have a fight?"

"No, it's not about Chris at all," Stephanie shook her head, her hair flying carelessly around her face. "I went to talk to Paul," she started because there was really no use keeping this to herself. It would only make her look guilty somehow, and she refused to feel guilty for that cretin's lips being anywhere near hers. "I went to tell him that I was with Chris, that I loved Chris because I do love him—"

"I know you do, you two are sucking face whenever I see you," he tried to lighten the mood, but it wasn't working. "Okay, I'm sorry, go on."

"Paul has been trying to be with me. He keeps thinking our storyline can turn into more, that somehow our characters aren't just the only ones who want to be together. So I went to him to tell him that no, this was not true, it wasn't going to be true, ever, and I felt no attraction for him whatsoever. He kissed me. He just up and kissed me."

"What! How could he do that!" Shane said, incensed for his sister.

"I slapped him _hard_, and I told him there was nothing between us, I'm just so mad at him right now. I can't believe he pulled that kind of stunt when he knows I'm with someone, when he knows I'm in love with Chris. I'd _just_ said I was in love with Chris, and he goes and kisses me, like he's allowed to."

That was another thing that really bothered her, maybe even more so than the actual kiss. The fact that Paul kissed her like he was just allowed to put his lips all over her whenever he wanted to made her blood boil. She did not appreciate the fact that he thought he could just put his hands and his lips on her like he did. She was a person, someone who made her own decisions, and Paul had taken a decision away from her, had forced himself on her, and that was not okay with her.

"What are you going to do?" Shane asked.

"I'm just going to keep it strictly professional with him," Stephanie shrugged, "there's not much else I can do except tell him I'm not interested. I can't fire him, I can't just end this storyline stone cold with no explanation. Besides, if everything goes according to plan, I'll be working with Chris, and Paul will be out of the picture."

"Speaking of, are you going to tell him?" Shane asked.

"Tell Chris that Paul kissed me?"

"Yeah," Shane wondered.

"Of course I am. I'm not going to hide it like it's something I should feel guilty about. I didn't kiss him back. I don't want Chris thinking I was trying to hide something from him, our relationship is better than that."

"I still don't even know how you guys became a couple in the first place," Shane said, "I don't think anyone does to be honest. All of a sudden, you two were just…together."

"I just wanted to make sure he was with me for the right reasons. I didn't want to come out with a relationship where I wasn't sure of the intentions of the other person," Stephanie answered smoothly, even though that was not how their relationship began at all. They'd become good at lying about it though. The two of them personally didn't care how they started because they loved each other now, but they knew how it would look to anyone on the outside looking in. "The important thing is that I love him, that I want to be with him, isn't it?"

"Yes, that is important, and he is a nice guy…when he's not trying his hardest to grope my sister every chance he gets."

"Oh come on, is this about last week when you caught us kissing on the front step?" Stephanie teasingly asked. The previous week, Shane and Marissa had invited Chris and Stephanie over to dinner. After ringing the doorbell, Stephanie and Chris had shared what started as an innocent kiss and ended when Shane opened the door with disgust.

"Didn't need to be reminded of that," he laughed, which made Stephanie smile, "Okay, mission accomplished, I got you to smile. Now you don't look like you want to use your head as a weapon."

"Stop," she pushed him away. "I have to get to Chris and tell him before someone else does. I can just imagine how Paul is going to try to screw this up."

"Are you sure you don't want me to talk to Dad about changing up the storyline?" Shane wondered. Stephanie had influence too, but if they both went to their father demanding a change, he was bound to listen.

"No, I'm okay, really," Stephanie said. Shane nodded and kissed her cheek before walking away. Stephanie pulled out her cell phone and dialed Chris's number. It was easier to call him and ask for his current location than to wander around trying to find him.

"Chris Irvine's phone, is this my lovely girlfriend?"

"Hey, where you at, boyfriend?" she asked him.

"I'm in the trainer's room."

"What? Why are you there?" Her voice immediately went on alert. Was Chris injured and not telling her something?

"Nothing major, I just have a kink in my shoulder, getting it worked on right now, what's going on? Why are you calling me when we're in the same building?" he asked. "Wait, how did it go with Paul? Did you talk to him yet?"

"Yeah, I'm coming to the trainer's room, we can talk there, I'll see you in a bit?"

"Of course," he laughed, "we're _in_ the same building, you can come see me at any time. I'll be sitting here, getting worked on."

"Okay, I'll be there in a few." Stephanie hung up the phone without saying goodbye since she'd see him in about three minutes. She walked down the hallway quickly, not getting deterred by anyone. She half-expected Paul to step in front of her, but he was wise enough to stay away from he right now. She made it to the trainer's room and walked inside. Chris was sitting up on the table while his arm was being rotated into odd angles. Every once in a while he would wince at the movement. She wondered if he had woken up with this soreness and recalled he had been moving his shoulder around while getting ready.

Chris looked up and saw Stephanie in the doorway and he smiled, waving her over with his right arm. She walked over and stood in between his legs as he leaned forward a little to peck her lips with a kiss. "Hey."

"I didn't know your shoulder was bothering you," she said.

"It was tight this morning, but became tighter once we got here, just figured I'd get it checked out before it became an issue."

"He probably just landed on it hard," Jack, the trainer, told them, "and then sleeping on it kind of tweaked it, but it's nothing to be worried about."

"Good," Chris nodded. "So what's up, babe? What happened when you talked to Paul?"

She shrugged, "It went."

"There's something you're not telling me," he called out astutely. She had to smile at that because they'd gone for so long oblivious to the way things really were between them, the way they could reach each other without thinking. He turned to Jack, "Hey, can you give me like three minutes?"

"Sure," Jack said, sensing Stephanie wanted to say something. "I needed a cup of coffee anyways."

Once he left, Chris turned back to Stephanie, "Spill it, what did he do?"

"He kissed me."


	28. Chapter 28

A/N: Thanks for reviewing and reading and everything, hope you enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Chris scoffed.

Stephanie didn't know how to take that scoff, but at the very least, he wasn't jumping up from the trainer's table and tearing through the hallways looking for blood. That had to be something. The last thing she wanted was for Chris to go all Neanderthal on her and seek out Paul to beat him up. She'd taken care of that for the evening. Instead, Chris was just sitting there, eyes glazed over, but in them, she could see that in his mind, he was beating up Paul.

"Chris?" she asked tentatively, afraid that the wrong word would set Chris off.

"I'm still here," he told her, turning so he was facing her. "Kissed you, huh?"

"Yeah, he kissed me."

"I'm assuming you either verbally or physically kicked his ass?" Chris wondered.

This was one of the reasons why she loved Chris. He knew she could handle herself. She remembered one time, they were in bed and just talking, but she'd told him about this girl who broke Shane's heart. She was older than her, much older than her, a junior, while Stephanie had been in middle school. She was all of twelve years old, but when her brother had to go back to the high school after picking her up, Stephanie had found the girl, started to march over to her while yelling at her until Shane had forcibly pulled her away before Stephanie could actually start a fight.

She didn't want a boyfriend who immediately went into fight mode when something like this happened. She wanted a guy who knew she was capable of handling herself, and Chris knew that. Maybe it was all the time spent not knowing they were more to each other, but he tended to defer to her when situations arose that needed her attention. She grabbed his hands, squeezing them companionably before picking them up and kissing his knuckles.

"Both," Stephanie mumbled around his fingers.

Chris smirked at her, "Both?"

"Well, first, I slapped the taste out of his mouth," Stephanie told him, and now Chris was downright grinning.

"You have no idea how much I would have loved to have seen that," Chris told her, and she could see he was picturing it in his mind. "Of course, in my head, I'm picturing him losing a few teeth in the process."

"Unfortunately for him, his teeth are still intact, but I wouldn't be surprised if my handprint is still on his face," Stephanie joked and Chris ducked his head a little to laugh. Stephanie leaned forward to kiss Chris.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did you clean your mouth out, I don't want to catch anything," he told her and she acted indignant. "Okay, I'll allow it, just this once. So what happened after that?"

"I told him off, I told him off really well," Stephanie shook her head. "I was pissed, actually, I still am pissed. I hadn't been giving him the benefit of the doubt lately, but I thought he could be an adult about this, you know. I explained what was going on. I told him that I was with you, that there was no chance for us. I made myself _very_ clear."

"Knowing you, I'm sure you did," he told her, nodding his head. She didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted, so she went with flattered. The way Chris looked at her was nothing short of adoration, so she definitely went with flattered. "Sorry, go on."

"Then he kissed me, then I blew up at him. I was so angry. Shane intercepted me on the way over here, calmed me down a little. I was about ready to punch the wall."

"I wouldn't want these cute hands to get hurt," Chris kissed her knuckles this time. "I'm extremely angry he did that, but I know you, and I know you can handle things like this, but I do think, as your boyfriend, I've got to somehow retaliate."

"I would rather you not," Stephanie said, "mainly because I'm just so sick of him. I want him out of our lives. I want my dad to take us out of this situation."

"I wish he could, but you know how he's been. He's loving this storyline between the two of us, but he keeps saying it's not the right time to put the two of us together."

"Which is ridiculous!" Stephanie exclaimed. "I mean, you're going to kiss me, right? How is that not an indication that the two of us should be together? The sexual tension between our two characters is off the charts."

"I think you're letting your anger blind you right now," Chris reached up and brushed his fingers against the knot between Stephanie's eyebrows. Her skin eased its way flat and he leaned his chin down a little so he could catch her eyes. "What you and Paul are doing, even though I _hate_ it, believe me, I hate that you have to go through with that, it's just work—"

"That's not what he thinks," Stephanie interjected.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked, confused by her words. What did Paul think? He couldn't possibly believe that Stephanie was attracted to him? Well, actually, he wouldn't put that past Paul. It was in him to be delusional like that.

"He thinks that he's better for me. He said that he can see it between the two of us," Stephanie scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I'm not sure exactly _what_ he sees, but yeah, that's what he sees or whatever. He just said that he was better suited for me than you were because he knows _so_ much about you. Hell, he even thought that my parents were the ones discouraging me from dating wrestlers."

"Unbelievable, so he was trying to make the hard push?"

"Yes, he said that his upbringing was better than yours," Stephanie shook her head. "Like your parents did such a bad job on you! That was the part that made me the angriest. It was like he was saying you weren't worthy, and what is with that? I decide who is 'worthy' of me or not."

"Hey, don't let him get to you, okay?" Chris said.

"I don't want to work with him anymore, Chris, I just don't," Stephanie confessed. "I'm sick and tired of him, and he's not going to let up. I have a feeling he won't look at this like a setback, but just as something that will make him have to push harder, and that scares me. I don't want to deal with him or his advances."

"Here, how about this," Chris told her, "whenever you guys have to do a scene together backstage, I'll be hanging around. He can't do anything if I don't let you out of my sight. He'll probably call me clingy or jealous or something, but we won't let that get to us. When you're out in the arena, it's not like he's going to try and really pull anything. I know I said we could do this before, but I really think we should do this now. I'm not going to have you feeling uncomfortable around him."

"I love you for that. I love that even though you know I can take care of myself, you still want to take care of me," Stephanie told him, giving him a crooked smile. "And I love that you didn't immediately go after him. I love everything about you."

"Hey, come here," he told her, hugging her to him as she buried her face into his neck. "You know I always will. When I come to my senses, I'm very, very difficult to get rid of, you know."

"I'm glad for that," she told him, her breath creating tingles along his neck. "I hate that he's trying to use me. Why me? Why am I just…what is wrong with him? I thought I could have a civil discussion with him, but he just…he wouldn't even let me get a word in, kept telling me how wrong you were for me, like I'm some kind of idiot."

"You're not an idiot, he is," Chris stroked her hair. The fight was draining from her, he could tell. The adrenaline she had from her fight with Hunter, and in its place was just anger that she could not just live her life without people trying to interfere. He wished he could make it better for her, but there wasn't much he could do. Unless he did talk to her father. Maybe if he appealed to the man.

His thoughts were interrupted when Shane walked in, "Oh, um, sorry, you two, I didn't realize…"

"It's okay," Chris said, "just hugging, we're not making out and making you uncomfortable."

"You were on my porch, man, so that's on you, not on me for opening my own front door."

"If you had opened it sooner, you wouldn't have given us time to kiss," Chris said. "Did you come in here for any reason?"

"Oh yeah," Shane frowned, "I ran into the trainer, he said you were in here, I was looking around for you. I thought I should tell you that Paul went to dad, he wanted to like amp up your storyline or something. I'm not sure Dad is totally buying it, but he said that he would think about it."

"But I'm kind of in charge of this."

"I know, but I guess Paul thinks he knows better than you."

"Story of my life right now," Stephanie pulled away from Chris, but stayed in his loose embrace. "I want to talk to Dad about this. I want this storyline changed. I don't even care if I have to work with Kurt, at least he never kissed me against my will."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Shane asked. "I mean, it wouldn't really make sense with what's going on right now?"

"I'm not concerned with what's going on right now," Stephanie shook her head. "This is my actual life we're talking about right now, and I can't deal with it. The guy didn't try to put the moves on me, he kissed me. He _kissed_ me, knowing I have a boyfriend, knowing I'm in a very committed relationship. You can't ask me to work through that, neither can Dad. He'll just have to understand."

"Well, I suppose we can switch some things around," Shane pondered the thought. "We would have to give some kind of conclusion to your storyline with Paul though. Stephanie would have to divorce him or something."

"She could be with me," Chris spoke up. He kissed Stephanie's forehead. "After the King of the Ring kiss, I think we could probably keep up the Stephanie/Hunter thing for another month, but start planting the seeds that Stephanie wants me instead. Have the kiss really effect her, then she reveals we're together. I think that would make you a face to be honest."

"That's not a bad idea," Shane shrugged. "I just think you have to get Dad on board with that. He's loving the chemistry between you two, you just have to convince him that if he puts you two together, it won't diminish in any way. I think he really likes the chase, you know what I mean."

"But wouldn't your dad be more receptive to changing it if he knew what happened with Paul?" Chris asked, looking between the siblings, who both kind of gave a half-hearted shrug. "You're kidding me, right? Your dad wouldn't change something that obviously makes you upset?"

"Our dad really does what he thinks is best for the product…" Shane scuffed his feet a little bit. "That sometimes comes at an expense."

"Not this time," Chris shook his head. "Not with this. I'm not going to let this happen."

"Chris, just calm down," Stephanie said, "we'll figure it out."

"Yeah, by telling your dad that this is how it's going to be," Chris told her, "I'm not going to let you have to work with that guy anymore. This is it, I'm putting my foot down."

Shane saw something in Chris he didn't think he'd ever seen before. He'd had his doubts at first, but Chris was clearly all about Stephanie. He liked that. He wanted his sister with someone like that. "I'm going to help," Shane said. "I don't want Stephanie in this predicament any more than you do."

"Then good, we're going to your dad, and we're going now."


	29. Chapter 29

"So let me get this straight, you want me to _end_ this storyline between you and Paul?"

"Yes, Dad, I want that," Stephanie said as her father eyed the three people in front of him suspiciously. Something was going on that he didn't know about, he could feel it. The mere fact that Shane, Stephanie, _and_ Chris felt the need to come in here and talk to him about the same thing was much too shady for him not to notice.

"But why? This thing between you two is going swimmingly," Vince tapped his index fingers against his chin. "The crowd is eating you both up as heels, plus you have this feud with Chris, and we were thinking about bringing Kurt really into it all."

Stephanie groaned, "Dad, I'm asking you to please change this."

"Well, we could bring in Kurt and have you get really close to him—"

"Why can't I get close to Chris?" Stephanie asked, grabbing Chris's hand as a sign of solidarity. "We're together, why can't we be together onscreen?"

"I think your interactions right now are perfect," Vince looked between the two of them. "The crowd is loving this hate relationship you two have for each other. It wouldn't make sense for Chris to suddenly want you."

"But he's going to kiss me, don't you think that's the perfect segue into a relationship onscreen?" Stephanie wondered. If there was anyone she didn't want to work with besides Paul, it was Kurt.

"We're playing that off as he did it to distract you," Vince said, "besides, you'll be accompanying Kurt because you're friends with him, so the natural progression would be from friends to more, don't you think?"

"I don't even understand why you'd want to put me with Kurt after what happened between the two of us," Stephanie argued although she really should keep the focus on Paul and that situation, but it couldn't hurt to speak out against the Kurt thing as well.

"But you and Chris were together," Vince pointed out, "and you said you knew what you were doing with Kurt so I'm guessing that situation didn't affect you as much as you acted like it did at the time."

Stephanie was caught there and Chris gave her a supportive smile. She and Chris _had_ been together at the time, but there was no way she could tell her father or her brother that she and Chris had essentially been sleeping together with no commitment whatsoever. Even though she was with Chris at the time and unknowingly devoted to each other didn't mean that the thought of what Kurt had done wouldn't sting. The only thing she could do though was act like it hadn't.

"Yeah, I'm just saying, it sucks that I have to work with him when he took such advantage of me," Stephanie left that argument behind though, "but that's not the point. The point is I don't want to work with Paul anymore, and I think the best thing for me to do is to work with Chris."

"Why are you so adamant?" Vince asked, looking Chris in the eye. "Are you telling her this is what you want?"

"No, I'm not," Chris said, and he was about to get into an argument with Vince over what he was to Stephanie and what role she didn't play in his career, but Stephanie placated him with her soft hand. "That's not it at all.

"Then what is it? I can't just change an entire storyline that we've got planned for at least the next couple of months because you _feel_ like it. If there is a reason you don't want this storyline, I suggest you come out and tell me right now because otherwise, I'm not seeing any legitimate reason for changing anything."

Chris looked at Stephanie, letting her know with his eyes that this was her decision. If she wanted to continue the storyline, he would be upset, but he wouldn't go against her decision. Stephanie took pride in her storylines, in the way she worked, and he didn't want to take that away from her. In the time they'd been together without knowing it, he'd never stepped on her toes when it came to her work and he saw no reason to start questioning her decisions now.

"I don't want to work with him any longer. I don't feel comfortable working with him anymore."

"You don't feel comfortable?" Vince tried to process this as his eyes narrowed. "Did he do something to you? Is he doing something to you? I mean, he came in here and he said he wanted to maybe amp up your relationship, but is there cause for concern."

"No, not really," Stephanie said, dodging around what happened earlier. She was stronger than being a tattletale to her father, and besides, she'd taken care of the situation herself. Maybe Paul would get a clue. She could only hope he would after she slapped the taste out of her mouth.

"Then I'm still not seeing the problem here," Vince told her. He looked to Shane and Chris, "do you two have anything to say about this?"

"Well," Chris started, "I would like to work with Stephanie because she is my girlfriend."

"You are working with her," Vince pointed out, "it just wouldn't make sense for your feelings to turn on a dime. Maybe at some later date it might make more sense, but right now, Paul and Stephanie are making fantastic heels, and with the addition of Kurt, it would really bolster his position in the company, something I really want to do."

"What about Chris?" Shane asked. "What are you planning on doing with him?"

"We were probably going to put him in a feud with Benoit. I know you two are friends, and I think you two could have good matches against each other," Vince threw it out there, and Chris was torn. He wanted Stephanie away from Paul at all costs, but a feud with one of his idols, that was something he'd wanted for a long time, especially now that he was in the WWF where things were handled better than they were when he was in WCW.

"We'll just continue on as we're going then," Stephanie said. Chris had told her all about his dream feuds for the WWF, and she remembered he'd said Benoit, and she didn't want to take it away from him.

"Stephanie," Chris said, her name holding all the questions he needed to ask.

"Just…don't put me with Kurt, not in the long run," Stephanie said, "I'd rather stay with Paul than be with Kurt. It may have been a ruse, but I'm still so disgusted by what he tried to pull with me."

"That's a fair deal," Vince said, "we can keep you two as friends or very good acquaintances. I want you to understand I'm not trying to go against your wishes and I'm not trying to ignore your suggestions, Stephanie, but you know we have things planned, and I can't cater to everyone's whims."

"I know," Stephanie said, standing up as Chris and Shane followed. "Thanks, Dad."

Stephanie led the two men out of the room, but it was Chris who spoke first, "Why didn't you tell your dad what happened?"

"Because I handled it," Stephanie said, "I handled the situation, and I don't think he's going to pull anything like that again. He knows what I can do to him, he knows that I can handle myself. He won't try it again."

"He might though," Shane told her, "and what if he does?"

"Then I will slap him again, and maybe I'll tell Dad. I just don't think it's a good idea right now. He's right, we have things set for at least the next few weeks, and to suddenly change everything, it wouldn't work. Plus, Chris, you want to feud with Benoit, I know you do. If I was to join you, you'd be stuck in this feud with Paul for a while, and you deserve better than that."

"Well, he is one of the top guys, it wouldn't be _such_ a burden," Chris laughed, taking her face in his hands, "plus, it would mean I get to kick his ass under the pretense that we have a match."

"You still do have a match," Stephanie said, "remember, we haven't even gotten to Fully Loaded yet, that's where you're going to be in a Last Man Standing match with him, and in those matches, you can be as brutal as you want to be."

"I like the sound of that," Chris smirked as he leaned forward to capture Stephanie's lips. She smiled into the kiss too as Shane made gagging noises next to them.

"Seriously, now you're just doing it to torture me," Shane said with exasperation. "You do realize I'm still here, right, guys?"

"Yes, but we suggest you leave," Chris mumbled against Stephanie's lips. "It's about to get gross."

"I'll talk to you later then," Shane gagged again. "I need away from this suck fest over here. Stephanie, please be careful with that guy, he's not a good guy if he's so willing to push the envelope with you."

"Don't worry," Stephanie turned to face him briefly, "I know what I'm doing."

Shane held his hands up in surrender before he walked away. He loved his sister, and he loved seeing her so happy. He would never admit it, but she did look good with Chris. Maybe the kissing could be toned down a little bit, but Stephanie was someone else when she was with Chris. She was happier, and that's all he wanted for her. If Paul thought he was going to destroy them, he had another thing coming to him. He would not let his little sister be unhappy, not ever.

"Are you sure you're okay with continuing this storyline?" Chris asked as soon as Shane left, "be honest with me too, okay, I may have been oblivious before, but now I know all your tells."

"Rather presumptuous of you, don't you think?"

"Yes, it is," he told her, "so just answer the question."

"I'm not happy about it," Stephanie shrugged, she wasn't going to lie. She would rather be with Chris, even if that meant she had to follow him around and be his valet and completely decimate the story they were trying to tell right now. Part of it was because of Paul, but there was a huge part of her that wanted it for even more selfish reasons. There was a little part of her, okay, it was a rather large part of her that wanted the entire world to see that she had Chris Jericho.

She knew that he was the object of many affections. She wasn't stupid nor was she blind. When they went out, she knew he caught the eye of a lot of women, and though she wasn't normally the jealous type, Chris was the first wrestler she'd ever dated. With that distinction came recognition. Stephanie was used to being recognized now that she had a higher profile spot in the company, but the men she'd dated before had all been out of the limelight therefore there was no reason for them ever to be recognized.

Chris had gained notoriety in WCW for better or worse. Now, with the WWF, he was getting even more fame, plus he had his cover band that sometimes played gigs, which would draw in other people. Chris was charming and he had a charisma that was unmatched. All of this meant that he had a lot of admirers, and Stephanie was just not used to the scale. She knew, if she went out there with him, a lot of people would cry storyline, kayfabe, whatever, but it would give her some sense of satisfaction. But that was selfish of her, and she didn't want to be selfish. She didn't want to play the part of jealous girlfriend.

"Then let's get it changed."

"But I can deal with it," Stephanie added. "I can deal with it because I can deal with him. He's not going to intimidate me, and I'm not going to be scared to work with him. Everything will remain professional, and if it's not, then I will sever that tie."

"You're sure?" he asked again, wanting to make sure this was truly something she could deal with, not that he thought she couldn't. To him, Stephanie could run the entire world and look flawless while doing so.

"Yes, I'm sure," she nodded, giving him a smile, "I promise, I won't let anything happen that we can't handle."

"We?"

"I'm assuming we're a we," she told him.

"We are," he told her, "I love you."

"I love you too," Stephanie said, "but right now, I need to go tell Paul what's going on."

"You want me there?"

"No, I don't, I know you say you're not going to retaliate, but he's going to say something smug to you, and you're going to go off, then my dad will either fine you or suspend you or something, and I would rather not deal with that."

"I wouldn't _want_ to, he'd bait me into it," Chris said, confirming that Stephanie knew he wouldn't be able to hold his temper if provoked. He could hold it now because Stephanie was reassuring, but if Paul tried to say something, he wouldn't be able to hold his tongue or his fists for that long. "If he pulls anything…"

"I will let you know _then_ you can beat him up."

"Good," Chris said, kissing her. "I better go talk to Sean since he's supposed to attack me tonight."

"Okay, I'll see you later?" Stephanie asked.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," he joked as he walked in one direction while Stephanie walked in the other. She arrived at Paul's door without really thinking about it. Her feet must have just carried her there without really thinking about it. She knocked on the door and waited for Paul to answer if he was there. She kind of hoped he wasn't, but that was dashed the moment he opened the door. He smiled at her, but she scowled.

"You came back," he said, "come in."

"I came back for one reason and one reason only," Stephanie said.

"You didn't tell Chris, did you? I mean, he hasn't even done anything, why would you hide it, Stephanie?" Paul asked, and there was the smug look that Chris would have punched right off his face.

"I did tell Chris, he's just not a jerk who feels the need to storm after a guy. I'm not a damsel-in-distress, he knows that."

"If you were mine, I would defend you."

"So you just don't even listen when I talk?" Stephanie asked. "Because I just said Chris doesn't see me as some weak, little girl who can't defend herself. Anyways, that's not the point. The point is this: I will continue with this storyline because it's best for the company. I will not like it, I will not like you, but I love this company, and if it means I have to pretend to like you, so be it, I can act well enough. So can you since you pretended to be my friend."

"I didn't pretend anything, we're friends, and we can be more—"

Stephanie held her hand up, "Stop, just stop embarrassing yourself. I thought you might not be what everyone said, but then you kiss me, you call Chris's ex, oh yeah, we knew about that, and you consistently try to make Chris out to be some kind of bad guy. Our relationship from now on is only on the professional level."

"Stephanie—"

"There's no room for negotiations, Paul, fact is, you blew it."


	30. Chapter 30

A/N: Thanks for reviewing and what not, enjoy and think about reviewing if you want! :)

* * *

"Frankly, your plans suck."

"Well, I don't see you coming up with anything," Paul said, glaring at Kurt. "You just sit there on your ass."

"You said you had things taken care of, but you didn't, you didn't have a damn thing taken care of, did you?" Kurt snapped back at him. "You didn't even think to ask his ex-girlfriend if she even cared about what happened with Chris."

"Look, I didn't know she wouldn't be into it, from what I heard, he dumped her over the phone, you'd think a chick would hold a grudge after that," Paul said, running his hands through her hair. "She's just not right for that asshole. I mean, what does he have that I don't."

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Kurt asked him sarcastically. "I bet he'd have a plan."

"Shut up, look, I'm trying here!" Paul told him. Their uneasy truce was coming crashing down around them because it seemed like nothing could break Chris and Stephanie up, but there had to be something. There was no way every relationship could be perfect, so there had to be a way to get them to break up. He wanted Stephanie, he _deserved_ Stephanie, and he'd be damned if he didn't get her, one way or another.

"Yeah, and it's not working. Find out whatever way you want, whatever we had here, it's done, I'm through."

"So what now? You're going to go after her? She wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole," Paul told him, giving him a sneer and a once over. "She hates your guts. At the very least, she doesn't hate me."

"Are you sure about that? Because if I recall correctly, she barely talks to you anymore, and word has it she's pissed at you."

"So what? It's only temporary, and it's not like I'm _married_. How'd your wife take the news that you were trying to bag a date with the boss's daughter? I'm sure she was thrilled when you told her, right?"

"Shut up, you don't know my life," Kurt said, "you don't know the first thing about my marriage, and if we want to compare how things stand between us and Stephanie, at the very least, I was able to _get_ a date with her."

"How'd that date go, by the way?" Paul asked with a shrug. "Did you guys have a good time?"

"She liked me once, she can like me again," Kurt said, "I don't even know why I teamed up with you, we're both after the same thing, but at least I want Stephanie because of her and not because dating her is an easy ticket to the top."

"I'll have you know I do think she's a good person."

"Yeah, that's a rousing assessment of her," Kurt nodded, "face it, out of the both of us, my feelings for her are more genuine. You want to use her, at the very least, that's part of it. I know my talent, I know I can do whatever I want in this company—"

"You just want to sleep with her."

"Hey, so do you, so do half the guys here."

"I'd like to see you even so much as try to get her to talk to you, I've got a better shot than you do at her. She won't even give you the time of day, and so what if she can do stuff for me, you don't think Chris has an agenda?"

"I don't know," Kurt shrugged, "I don't care what that guy thinks or does, as long as he's out the picture, he can do whatever the hell he wants."

"Everyone says that he's genuine, that he's some good guy, but he did something, he must have done something to break through her damn defenses. When I first met her, she had every damn wall up, she would barely say five words to me, but for this guy, she's been dating him for months, since he practically came into the company?"

"Maybe she just doesn't think you're worth the time," Kurt told him.

"Oh please, get out of here, I'm worth it."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Kurt told him before leaving. "If you think you actually have a shot, you just go for it, I'm sure she'll come around eventually, I mean, she did fall for…oh wait, no, she didn't."

"Get the hell out of here," Paul snarled as Kurt left, slamming the door behind him. Paul didn't need him or his stupidity. Conversely, Kurt didn't need Paul and his ineffective plans. Both of them could go their separate ways and do just fine. Neither one of them had Stephanie, but they were going to be just fine.

Stephanie hugged Chris around the waist. "Is it time for King of the Ring yet? I can't wait, I'm so anxious for it, so anxious, I think I'm going to need some practice before it happens." She leaned up to him and made kissy faces at him. He leaned down and gave her a small peck on the lips. "What? That's it? That's all I'm going to get?"

Chris leaned down and gave her two pecks, "Is that better?"

"No, that's not better," Stephanie scowled. "You have to kiss me like you mean it. Actually, you have to kiss me like you hate it because that's what's supposed to be happening between our characters."

"Then you have to act like you don't like it, do you think you can do that because I've seen some of the faces you make after I kiss you," Chris told her, leaning his forehead against hers. "I've seen some other faces too."

Stephanie groaned, "You can't say _that_ out there, I mean, you can hint, but you can't say anything that we're together because we're not supposed to be together."

Chris could sense she was unhappy about that, "Right now, Steph, right now, but that doesn't mean we can't be put together in the future, we just have to wait until the time is right, kind of like how we waited until the absolute last moment to realize we were in a relationship."

Stephanie hugged him tighter, "I guess you're right, but I have to cut a promo with Hunter out in the ring, and we have a segment backstage, so that will have to wait for now. But someday, we're going to work together, I'll make sure of it."

"Well, I'll be there for the backstage segment, just like we talked about."

She nodded, "And he won't try anything out there, and my father will be out there, so I'll feel better about the entire thing. When we're together, I won't be able to keep my hands off you."

Chris suddenly dipped her down, cradling her against his body. She widened her eyes at him and he leaned down to kiss her deeply. She was surprised at first, but easily melted into the kiss, her arms coming up and cradling his face, letting him dictate the pace of the kiss as part of her was trying not to fall out of his arms. He finally pulled away and stared deeply into her eyes. She got lost in the blueness of them, and she could feel herself getting aroused just from the contact alone.

"What was that for?" she breathed.

"I'm practicing, I think you were supposed to act like you didn't like that," he said, pulling them both up so they were standing again. She was still breathless and he snickered at her dazed expression. "Yeah, I really think we need to work on this kiss because if _this_ is your reaction, I don't think anyone is going to believe you hated it."

"You surprised me," she said softly, "I wasn't expecting it."

"Excuses," he joked with her. "We have to make it believable that we hate each other or else we're never going to get together, and I'll have to watch you make-out with that guy for a long time, and then I'll remember how he really kissed you, and then I'll get myself fired from here for fighting him."

"Don't do that," she said, cupping his face in her hands. "I've got to go though, I'm opening the show. She leaned up to kiss him one last time, lingering for a moment before she pulled away and snuck out the door.

When she got to the gorilla, Paul was already there. She stood a good distance away from him, but he sidled up to her anyways, "Stephanie, can we talk?"

"Nope, we can't," she told him, "we have a job to do, we'll do it, end of story. You just have to get through it and so do I. Don't unnecessarily touch me, if I want to touch you, I will, but otherwise, keep your distance."

"Please, can we just—"

"Look, I have to be in this storyline, I don't want to be, I have to be, so please respect my wishes. That'd be the opposite of what you did in that locker room to me. You violated me knowing full well I have a boyfriend I love."

"Look—"

"I told you, no talking to me," she folded her arms and took a couple steps away. Paul sighed, knowing she was going to be more difficult than he anticipated. It wasn't a lost cause, but he'd have to work to gain her trust again. The bad part was that he didn't know how to do that. He didn't know what he could do that couple possibly gain any kind of trust back, but there had to be a way.

He just hadn't figured it out yet.

Stephanie waited until Paul's music hit and she walked over to him as they walked down the ramp. Stephanie put on her McMahon-Helmsley persona, and sneered at the crowd, pretending they were all beneath her. She climbed into the ring with Paul, and hung off him, but it lacked a lot of contact it used to have. She wanted it over with, and they could tell, but she hoped the people in the stands wouldn't tell. She just thought about Chris, and it all became easier.

When that was over, and they were backstage, she rushed away from him, mumbling about how she'd see him later. She felt like she needed a hot shower, but she really just needed Chris. He seemed to sense her because even before she hit the door, it opened and he walked out. She nearly tackled him and he hugged her tightly, trying to decrease her stress.

"It'll be okay," he told her, "it'll all work out in the end."

"I don't like it anymore, I wish my father would just listen to me."

"He will, eventually he will, and you'll get away from all this, maybe even me."

"Never you," she kissed him. "Not ever you."

Hunter saw this and wanted that. That's what he wanted, and maybe a lot of it was what Stephanie could do for him, but part of him did want her for her. She was always so passionate before when she kissed him, and he wanted a taste of that. He wanted her to run up to him like that. He was green with envy over her relationship with Chris because he just did not get Chris, and he never would.

When he had to do his backstage segment with Stephanie, Chris was in tow, and this was the new thing. The new thing was she couldn't even be alone in a room with him with camera guys present. Chris stood against the wall, watching the entire thing, his eyes trained on Stephanie. Paul felt like he was being scrutinized, and he was. Chris would send him a glare every now and then, and he could feel the hatred palpitating off him, but he kept his cool. When they were through, Stephanie walked over to Chris, and without a word, left the room, not bothering to look back.

Paul was determined to know what Chris had that made Stephanie want her.

Then he would use it against Chris.


End file.
